Officer's Return
by Rangerfan58
Summary: Title, gives it partially away but full summary inside. Profile explains how I choose to rate things and as always if I need a higher rating let me know
1. Chapter 1

_Odo and Data were lost in a transporter accident while transferring from an ailing Klingon ship to the _USS Melbourne _(they were on loan to the ship and they were beaming back to report on what supplies would be needed) right? If that was the case why are the crew of _DS9 _seeing what looks to be solid ghosts three months later? What has been hidden from reports that were given regarding the incident? And is there new trouble now on the horizon for the Federation?. This is set after the Dominion war but Odo doesn't leave to give the Founders a cure, instead the female Founder that signed the treaty was given the cure to pass onto the rest and also all of his knowledge of the solids to help prevent another war from happening out of ignorance. As for Sisko he remained with the Prophets for six months before being returned home to linear time and having all the knowledge that he needed for the future of Bajor and the Federation promising his wife that he was never leaving again by choice. And yes I know that Worf came to the station in season 4 and was on the _Defiant_ when Odo became human, however I have decided that while most of what happened in season 4 happened like normal Worf didn't fully join the crew until Season 5 due to various other assignments given throughout the Season so as to deal with the Klingon war issue thus Worf wasn't there for the trip to Dominion space when Odo was judged. I don't know if Odo's rank was ever officially Constable or not but seeing as how he was referred to as that throughout the entire series that's what his rank is. There is a time skip and while normally I say what's happened during the time skip by year unless it's pretty routine this time it will be a retroactive time skip explanation and while it's partially routine if you've seen the episodes it's best that I explain what happens during the time skip_

Sisko hears the doors to his office open and sees Kira Nerys enter the office

"How's Worf Kira?"

"No change, Julian says that if things don't improve soon he's going to have to force Worf into a medical coma in order to get nutrients into him, Ezri agrees with him by the way"

"What of Chancellor Martok?"

"He knows that Worf knew both officers personally and is giving him at least a year off starting from the day he heard the news, all he asks is that you or I keep him updated on Worf's condition since he gets the feeling that either Worf will lie to him or won't be in any condition to report himself"

"I see, I think I'll let you handle the communication for the most part, though if Bashir puts Worf into a medical coma I will be the one to tell him that Doctor Bashir will be the one giving him regular updates until further notice"

"Understood, Chancellor Martok also said that the _Melbourne_ and his own ship have been going through their sensor readings ever since the accident whenever possible and still have no answer as to what happened, but that even with their deaths they're not going to give up looking for an answer until they have one"

"Thank him for me will you?"

"I will sir"

Kira turns to leave but suddenly turns back to face Sisko

"Is there something else you needed?"

"Yes sir, it's regarding Worf, I may not necessarily have read everyone's records but Worf is acting out of character to me, even more so than when...when we lost Jadzia"

"There's a reason for that actually, this is the second time Lt. Commander Data has been lost to him, between that and having personally served with both him and Odo I'm not surprised he's taking things as hard as he is"

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"Stardate 43872.2 on his way back to the _Enterprise _from the ship of the trader Kivas Fajo his shuttle exploded and what was thought to be his remains was detected in the debris, as such Worf took his place on top of being ship's chief security officer. Eventually the _Enterprise_ discovered Fajo's ruse and essentially rescued Data who was alive but prisoner on Fajo's ship, last I knew Fajo was still in prison due to kidnapping Lt. Commander Data and killing at least one person with a weapon that was outlawed by the Federation"

"How long did they think he was dead?"

"Fortunately only a few days, but this time..."

"This time it's been three months since they were lost and Worf is blaming himself for not being there"

"Exactly Colonel"

"But...he's an ambassador not an officer"

"He knows that on some level, but he's a Klingon Kira, you've served with him long enough to know what goes through that mindset"

"Blast it I hate that mindset!"

"So do I Colonel, so do I"

"In the meantime Julian is going to keep an eye on him like I already said and if need be intervene, maybe...maybe I might be able to help Worf slightly"

"What do you mean?"

"Odo...we may have never thought him dead before but I could tell him about the time when he nearly died because of his people so that he would return home for punishment"

"That's not the same thing Colonel, and you know it"

"That may be true, but maybe, just maybe what he needs to hear are stories of Odo before he came to the station, good and bad so that he can share stories of Lt. Commander Data, that might just be what he actually needs"

"Okay we'll give your idea a chance, but Ezri will always be there at first just in case we push things too far too fast"

"Understood sir"

And so the first tentative steps to prevent Worf from being put into a medical coma were made at Quark's


	2. Chapter 2

"Worf...can we talk?"

"I don't want to talk"

"Sorry Worf, but I'm afraid that this time that won't work, I'm too worried about you, and besides you don't necessarily have to talk, just listen if you want"

"About what?"

"Odo, before you came to the station full time, though admittedly the first story almost had a very sad ending"

"What do you mean?"

"We almost lost Odo to his own people in a very bad way, you see one day Garak asked to see Odo at his shop but it turned out to be a non security matter and as such Odo started to leave when...when suddenly according to Garak he cried out in pain and parts of his body temporarily went into a gelatinous state, Odo actually passed out at Garak's shop forcing Garak to call for medical help. His condition became worse to the point that we had no choice but to go to the Gamma Quadrant and ask the Founders for help, one of them came onto the _Defiant_ and stabilized Odo's condition, though Odo confirmed to us later that if we had not gone to the Gamma Quadrant he would have died. We went to the Founder's home world where he was judged and made solid, he had a hard time adjusting as you might have known but he managed"

"I...was unaware of how that came to be, but if you think this will get me to talk..."

"Colonel, I think the two of us should leave Worf alone"

"Understood Ezri"

And so the two start walking towards a turbolift when suddenly they both stopped in their tracks and turned around rapidly, only to then look at each other in confusion

"Did...did you see what I saw?"

"I don't know, I might have but..."

"Sisko"

"Agreed"

They go to Ops and then immediately go to the office knowing that Sisko was still there

"What can I do for you two?"

"Sir it's...there may or may not be an incident soon"

"What for?"

"Ezri and I thought we saw Odo and Lt. Commander Data on the Promenade"

"What?"

"I know what that sounds like sir, as such Bashir may be reporting this to you as well about sightings of those two, we just don't know yet"

"Keep me informed as best as possible"

"We will"

"Dax, are you absolutely sure about both of them?"

"Yes, Odo of course is well known to us, but I memorized what Lt. Commander Data looks like from his official Starfleet file since Worf and O'Brien both never had any pictures of him lying around"

"I'm willing to bet the Ezri in you has been asking them about that"

"Oh yeah, the Jadzia in me talked to Worf about his service on the _Enterprise_ a few times but even then I...she never saw a picture outside of official Starfleet photos"

Over the next several days several people not only reported sightings of Odo and an unknown Starfleet officer but Worf started to open up about his memories regarding Data when they served together on the _Enterprise_. When he thought he saw them both he actually fainted because while he had heard the rumors he had deliberately decided to ignore them as best as possible and when he had no choice but to not be so ignorant he had chosen not to believe the rumors, he woke up with a headache and Bashir, Sisko and Ezri near his bed

"I thought I saw Odo and Data, but that cannot be"

(Sighs) "I'm afraid that you're not the only one with possible sightings, it's where the rumors you've been doing your best to ignore are coming from"

"I see...what are we to do about these sightings?"

"For now nothing primarily because there's nothing that _can_ be done, the sightings are all way too brief to try and confirm if it's actually them or not"

"I see, if possible I would like to try something that may help"

"I'm open to suggestions Worf, but not right now"

"Understood sir"

"I know that you want to get started immediately Worf, but I can't allow it for a very simple reason, there's going to be a training session executed in a few hours and we don't know how long that session will last due to the fact that there are Academy Cadets involved in said training, if the two officers _are_ alive they may need treated for injuries for Odo and as for Lt. Commander Data who knows what damage might need fixed and we don't have Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge here to help yet, the _Enterprise_ is due here an hour before the training session happens because they're also going to be part of it"

"But if they were to suddenly show up during the exercise..."

"There seems to be a pattern regarding that and it's likely that they won't show up for at least two days"

"That is if the pattern holds"

"Yes, that is indeed if the pattern holds"

The training session ultimately took a day and a half because while the majority of the people training turned out to be Cadets they were some of the older Cadets and took to training more quickly than a younger Cadet would have, the rest were Starfleet officers that had lived through the Dominion war

"Alright Worf, what is your plan?"

"That we flood the entire station with Anyon emissions for at least ten minutes unless we get indications otherwise"

"Of course, I read that report I should have thought about that myself"

The emissions though don't actually work, at least not as well as they might have otherwise because what had happened to Odo and Data wasn't just similar to what had happened to LaForge and Ro where they had been phased instead they had been full on cloaked by the mixture of the transporter and an explosion right as they had been beamed off that had affected the Klingon's cloaking device for a full three minutes, the sightings that had been reported were the result of the cloaking effect being temporarily turned off in a way and even _that_ had taken three months to happen in the first place. There was also the fact that the Empire was keeping things secret from the Federation and also Worf because of the fact that Martok wasn't sure if he would continue to pursue the technology they were testing which would give them the ability to attack while cloaked, there was also the fact that neither side was aware of Section 31 interference who had wanted both Data and Odo out of the way because both were more than a little...difficult to control in their minds in getting what they wanted done (Data and Odo had found out about Section 31 being involved during the three months it took to uncloak, however they had unfortunately been forced to forget what they had learned by Section 31 on the way to DS9). Worf was naturally upset that his idea hadn't worked and he almost reverted back to when Bashir was considering putting Worf in a medical coma, but fortunately he was also quickly pulled out of that by those that had known him during his tour of duty on DS9

"You tried Worf, that's all anyone could have asked of you, is that you tried"

"But I failed!"

"Worf...in some ways you may think you failed but you actually haven't, yes the Anyon emissions didn't reveal the two presumed dead but might not actually be officers, but that just means that they aren't phased or cloaked, or if they _are_ cloaked it's not in a method that can easily be undone"

The station would continue to have the occasional sightings for another two months, during which time Odo _finally_ managed to get a brief message out via his office (he and Data both knew that time was extremely limited and had already agreed on four short words each time, though what those words were would be decided nearing the timing of their temporary uncloaking because of the fact that while they technically _could_ touch things while cloaked they did _not_ want to risk messing up the technology since they were unsure of what the cloaking actually did to said technology)

"Sir...there's...there's a message from security"

"What's the message?"

"All it says is four words. Alive, cloaked, Klingon, Federation...what does that mean?"

"I think I might know, though I don't know how it will be confirmed, our two people that have had sightings are alive but cloaked due to a combination of something happening on the Klingon ship and our transporter system most likely, I recently received the final report from the Klingon High Council and the _Melbourne_, it turns out that the Klingons were testing a new cloaking device that would allow them to fire their weapons while still cloaked, ultimately they have decided against that technology, but apparently that was one of the consoles that exploded just before transport which messed up their cloaking system, that combined with the known transporter issues regarding messed up cloaking devices means that our two officers were cloaked and not killed like believed"

"You know it could be more complicated than that but okay let's say that you're correct Captain, what now?"

"Now we try and figure out how to get them _uncloaked_ so that they can resume their normal lives, in the meantime we need to contact Starfleet Command and let them know that our officers are alive and not dead"

"They won't consider this message as proof though"

"Hm...you have a point regarding that, as such we'll have to uncloak them first and _then_ let Starfleet Command know that the two officers are in actuality alive"

"I guess we're contacting the Klingon High Council and the _Melbourne_"

"Looks like it indeed"

It would take a week for both to get to the station while in the meantime another message was sent

"Sir it's another message, this time it's...well I don't know if you can infer anything out of this one but here goes. Earth, _Enterprise_, danger, many"

"Okay...that one has me confused as well, but we'll alert both Earth and the _Enterprise_ to possible danger, if they ask where we heard this, make something up that _doesn't_ involve Odo or Lt. Commander Data due to the fact that we have no proof of them being alive at the moment"

"Yes sir"

Once the _Melbourne_ and the Klingon High Council representative was at the station they worked 24/7 in trying to figure out how to reverse what had happened, but after three days they succeeded in uncloaking the two officers, even without the _Enterprise_ there for LaForge to be there for Data it was decided that they had been lost long enough, plus it turned out that an Engineer on the _Melbourne_ had studied Bruce Maddox's notes and had talked with LaForge and Data before and as such would be able to handle any issues. The solution was done in sickbay just in case Odo at the least needed care and when the cloaking was undone Odo was in his gelatinous state and Data was also unconscious


	3. Chapter 3

"It worked, Bashir you check on Odo while I check on Data and we'll go from there"

"Once they're awake I'm making them both go through a mandatory check with me, Lt. Commander Data may technically outrank me but I'm the counselor on this station and as such in this instance I outrank him"

"What about Odo?"

"Oh...he knows what will happen if he doesn't attend a meeting with me"

"Dax?"

"Sorry Ben, but that's between him and me"

"Understood, Bashir how do things look?"

"Right now I don't know, these readings are all over the place, even worse than when he got that disease that almost killed the Founders, and _those _readings were worse than the readings I got when the Founders almost killed him to bring him to judgment"

"Just...do your best, I'm going to check on Lt. Commander Data, give me an update when you can alright?"

"I will, in fact I may be giving you hourly updates I just don't know yet"

He then goes over to where Data was lying

"How's Lt. Commander Data, Lt.?"

(Sighs) "I think he'll be fine in a few moments, his readings for the most part are already stabilized in fact if I'm reading this right, he should..."

Suddenly Data sits up, blinks and then turns to Sisko

"Captain Sisko, now that I am able to I am formally requesting permission to come aboard this station and I apologize for neglecting to do so earlier as is regulation"

"Permission granted Lt. Commander Data, and you're forgiven for not following regulation earlier considering the circumstances you found yourself in"

"If I may inquire, how is Constable Odo?"

"Worse off than you right now, but he is alive so I'll take that"

"In that case I will be the first to give you a full report regarding what has happened to us and explain any and all of our cryptic messages that you didn't understand"

"Very well, by the way Lt. Ezri Dax has stated that you're to have a mandatory counseling session with her, most likely before you return to duty"

"Where are her quarters so that I may schedule said meeting?"

"Actually she's still here if you wish to speak with her privately for a few moments"

"That would be best"

And so Ezri and Data agreed that the next day they would have that mandatory session, this was primarily because Ezri insisted that Data run a systems wide diagnostic on himself to make sure that any and all repairs had been done correctly and she remembered from his files that those diagnostics could take several hours. It turned out that there were a few _minor_ repairs that hadn't been done correctly but he also knew that those repairs could wait until he was back on the _Enterprise_ and so the next day at the agreed time he went to Ezri's quarters

"Well, I know that you would have counseling on the _Enterprise_, but I wanted to get a head start on dealing with everything you've been through since that mission, I know that you don't have emotions like most of the others but I would still like you to talk through things regarding how you may have helped Odo in this situation and what your thought processes were while you were unable to do anything regarding communicating your situation of being alive"

And so for the next three hours Data unleashes what had happened to Ezri in a slightly detached way but it let Ezri realize that while Data didn't feel emotions he did _understand_ them after years of observation, he also had asked her to record the session so as to have a means of having his report sent in if he was for whatever reason unable to after said session, which it turned out to be the case due to a hidden chip in his positronic matrix

(Sighs) "OK that was unexpected Dax to sickbay"

"Sickbay here go ahead"

"Two questions, one is Odo awake and two is Lt. Fawn still on the station?"

"No to your first question and yes to your second, I believe I saw him at Quarks only a few minutes ago"

"Thanks, Dax to Lt. Fawn"

"Fawn here go ahead"

"Could you come to my quarters? I think you missed something when you and Lt. Commander Data did the system checks"

"I'm on my way"

When he gets to her quarters he sees Data unconscious on the floor and sighs

"Right, what was missed?"

"I have no idea, however I know for a fact that until the _Enterprise _gets here you're the closest we have to an expert"

"Right, I'll see what I can do to help him"

Ultimately there wasn't much that Fawn could do but Data eventually woke up on his own in sickbay, where Odo was still in his gelatinous state

"Doctor Bashir, how is Odo?"

"No change, and the same can be said for you as well, there are anomalous readings that I can't get a handle on, fortunately Odo isn't dying right now, but it could get that ways if we don't get things resolved soon"

"I see, in the meantime I must report something to Captain Sisko that I was initially unaware of"

"Understood"

"Doctor Bashir, you also have a right to know, it involves a group called Section 31"

(Growls) "them, I know that group well enough, I will get started once you tell me what you know"

"Captain Sisko first for safety reasons"

"Understood"

And so Data explains to Sisko that Section 31 was involved in their accident in that they had managed to sabotage the transporter on the _Melbourne_ and had also managed to inject Odo and implant Data with a specific scrambler system that would react to any kind of explosion with any kind of system to make it appear that they had been lost in said explosion as long as it was big enough and they were close enough if a transporter wasn't in use and they had planned such an explosion on the _Melbourne _before the rescue mission for the Klingon vessel

"Can you help Odo then?"

"I believe I can help Doctor Bashir synthesize an antidote, however it may take several days"

"I don't care, Bashir is nearing his limits right now and could use the help of someone who knows what was done to Odo"

"Understood sir, if the _Enterprise_ arrives while we are still working on the cure can you let them know that I am at the sickbay?"

"I will indeed let them know, dismissed Lt. Commander Data"

And so the next week was spent with Bashir and Data pouring over every last bit of information that Data finally remembered in regards to what had happened to the two of them, and while they themselves didn't quite come up with the solution, that was only because they were missing the last piece of information that they needed that only Doctor Crusher on the _Enterprise_ had, once that information was inserted the three of them quickly found a cure that would allow Odo to return to a solid form

"Thank you Doctors, Data, it was getting a little tiring being able to hear everything but not able to do anything about it, I'll be giving Sisko my report in the morning after I also have my mandatory meeting with Lt. Dax"

"In the meantime we have to deal with Section 31"

"Doctor Bashir, you and I both know how difficult that would be"

"I know Odo, but they could have killed the two of you, as it is we did think you were dead for three months and have been spending almost as long if not a little bit longer trying to get you back, I don't know if Starfleet Command knows that the two of you are alive or not but in either case Section 31 has to pay"

"That may be the case, but now is not the time, maybe one day but that day may be far off when we're dead"

"Understood Odo, in the meantime like you said Ezri wants to see you before clearing you for duty again and I also want to see you back here tomorrow at the earliest before I clear you for duty once more...I mean it Odo, you've been cloaked for an extremely long time and then subjected to Anyon emissions and then the solution to finally bring you guys back to us, you've been in your gelatinous state since being brought back, by the way you guys saved Earth with your cryptic message, it turned out that Captain Picard figured out what you were trying to tell me, and Lt. Commander Data has also already explained all of your other cryptic messages except the first one since we figured that one out ourselves"

"That's...good to hear Doctor, now then I have an appointment to schedule and then I also have to let Captain Sisko know a few things that Lt. Commander Data was unaware of only because I didn't tell him about it"

"Odo..."

"I'm sorry Doctor, but even though I am not medically cleared Captain Sisko has to hear this immediately, it may affect the safety of this station or even the Federation if this isn't handled correctly and as quickly as is possible"

"Understood, but Ezri and I will _both_ be at that meeting, Bashir to Dax"

"Dax here go ahead"

"Meet Odo and I in Ops, he apparently needs to tell Captain Sisko something immediately even though he has not been medically cleared for duty yet"

"I'm on my way"

Once at Sisko's office they could see that he was _not_ happy about Odo being up and about acting like he was reporting for duty

"Odo"

"I'm sorry sir, but there's something that Lt. Commander Data didn't report that you need to know"

"Why would he keep something a secret"

"That's because he is actually unaware of potential danger, has he informed you of the brief period we were split up?"

"Yes, he said that you two were separated for three weeks during the initial three month period of being cloaked"

"That was not intentional at all, unfortunately nevertheless we still got separated. During that time I learned of potential dissident plans but I couldn't explain that to anyone even after we gained the ability to send brief messages, from what I remember any actions that were to be taken against either this very station or the Federation were to begin within this time period, the warning we gave you before was of a different trouble, however..."

"Maybe if you describe the problem a bit more we can see what has happened in the Federation that _might_ look like the trouble you're trying to warn us about"

And so Odo explains that a group of dissidents were planning to bomb a location during a major meeting that he was unsure was being held at, considering how many important meetings were being held now at DS9 he knew that the station was at risk


	4. Chapter 4

"I'll check and see what I can find out, in the meantime before you're allowed back on duty you have two different meetings according to Dax and Bashir"

"Understood sir"

"Odo, meet me tomorrow at 0700, the same time as I met Lt. Commander Data, you know what will happen if you miss the session"

"Indeed I do, however if it needs to be rescheduled..."

"You know the arrangements for that as well"

"Understood"

As it turned out the 0700 meeting would indeed need to be rescheduled because of Ezri receiving emergency patients in the middle of the night

"Dax to Odo"

"Odo here go ahead"

"We'll have to reschedule the meeting for 1200 at the earliest, I got an emergency case on my hands"

"Understood, anything I can possibly help with even though I'm not cleared for duty?"

"Yes actually, I know that you generally don't have a bed or anyone in your quarters but...there are displaced people and Captain Sisko is asking everyone if they could share their quarters temporarily"

"I'll have to requisition a bed, but I can do that, I'll just sleep in my office while the refugees are here due to the fact that my regeneration cycle can make people...uncomfortable"

"Alright, the requisition is already taking place due to your unique circumstances and as such there should be a bed or two in your quarters within an half hour, could you get your quarters set up for the beds in the meantime?"

"Yes, but I'll need some help getting it all done quickly"

"Of course, help is on the way"

And so Odo's room was rearranged and later the next day he had his mandatory meeting with Ezri who cleared him mentally but he also knew that Bashir had to clear him physically, in the meantime Sisko had put the station and key meeting locations on high alert for bomb threats

"Has anything happened yet?"

"No, but if something _does_ happen we're ready"

"The _Enterprise_ is requesting clearance to leave"

"Tell them permission granted, by the way Captain Picard stated that he'd be leaving officers behind until further notice, has he done so?"

"Yes and they've been given quarters to stay in"

"What about the sudden refugees that we took in temporarily?"

"They've settled into their temporary quarters as well, Odo is sleeping in his office until further notice though"

"For the comfort of the others I assume?"

"Yes sir"

"Fine, I'm going to see if he's been medically cleared because I need my Chief of security back on duty as soon as possible considering what's going on right now"

Sisko arrives at the sickbay just as Odo is leaving

"Odo, how did things go with Bashir?"

"I'm on limited duty for at least two days, apparently there are minor inconsistencies with my other scans which might be the result of how Lt. Commander Data and I were brought back from being cloaked and then the further actions allowing me to regain my humanoid form, if nothing major happens in the two days I will be allowed back on full duty after another scan is completed"

"That's good to hear, in the meantime I want you to do a patrol and see if anyone's managed to get a bomb on board my station, you're more discreet than others I'm afraid due to your unique ability"

"Understood, I'll also be handing you a written report since that is overdue"

"Lt. Commander Data already gave me the report and due to the fact that you were together for the most part if you so choose I will accept just the three week separation period if you so choose to only write that portion"

"No, it's better that you have my full report as well since even together we noticed different things and also I can add some emotions that Lt. Commander Data is unable to express which will explain our actions a little better, besides it's already fully written"

"Odo..."

"I know that I was off duty but it was...better for me to write everything down, it was like a kind of release that I needed as a means to confirm to myself that the entire ordeal was truly over and that life was starting to get back to normal"

"Very well, give me your report later today then"

"Understood sir"

Two hours later and Sisko had Odo's report during the time that he and Data had been missing and presumed dead, he also stated that so far there didn't seem to be any explosives but that he was going to remain vigilant until the threat of danger had passed

"I know Constable, now then nothing is scheduled for another two days in any Starfleet or Federation location so we won't know until meetings start happening but so far they've taken your report seriously and are keeping vigilant as well according to daily reports I am getting"

"Then they are aware of mine and Lt. Commander Data's status?"

"Yes, they've been aware since the day after Lt. Commander Data woke up, though _that_ conversation took more time than originally thought"

"I don't doubt it, we'd been dead for several months by that point so they had to make sure of his identity and most likely my identity while I wasn't even available for conversation"

"You have a point Odo, you have a point"

Two days later the vigilance paid off because an explosion went off on Betazed during a conference between two groups who were fighting and had chosen Betazed as the neutral ground and later that day there was a message that Betazed was only the first in an unspecified amount of targets. The _only_ reason things weren't worse off was because of said vigilance, instead of death, mass confusion, mass injury and a breakdown of peace talking there was only mild confusion, one injury which wasn't even serious and the two groups that had chosen Betazed continued the talks and also started discussing with each other the possibility of joining the Federation once they were stable and had proven to be stable for at least 50 years since the two groups that were fighting were from the same planet

"Looks like you were right Constable"

"Indeed, I'll be staying on alert until we're sure the threat is over with...I would suggest increasing security measures if at all possible and I also suggest security drills on a regular basis until further notice as well"

"I'm afraid that the drills are not going to be possible right now for the simple reason that we have a delegation ourselves coming within three days and those drills take time to set up, as for increasing security measures consider it done, no one will get on or off this station without a thorough screening of their belongings and weapons of any kind will be confiscated unless they are a Starfleet or Bajoran officer with the standard phaser of choice for that particular security group"

"Acceptable under the circumstances, is it safe to assume that I have full authority over those checks?"

"Sorry, but I need you and a Starfleet officer to work together for this round, only because of the sheer volume of people coming for this conference, one person cannot arbitrarily say that someone is dangerous to this station you both have to agree depending on the evidence gathered"

"Understood, at least tell me that I am fully in charge of whatever happens on this station"

"That you are, primarily in the Promenade but if something happens on the station you're the one who ultimately decides if someone lands in a holding cell"

"Understood"

The next three days were definitely a hive of activity with ships coming and going depending on what they were doing, if they were simply dropping off supplies or delegates they were delayed for about two hours on average, if they were actually staying for a period for whatever reason they were delayed on average for four hours before anyone or anything was allowed on the station, the only exception being a couple of Starfleet vessels but that was only because of routine security checks done on board the ships, though other vessels didn't like the seeming favoritism not understanding the nature of Starfleet and thus _why_ they were able to leave faster than anyone else, it also helped that for several of the officers coming on board the station they simply beamed aboard into Ops. But finally their own conference was underway and the first two days of a week long event was calm, and then even though a check had been made three different explosive devices were discovered just before they detonated and even that was by chance and one of the explosives was near critical systems

"How did they get passed our security?"

"I have no idea, but I'll be looking into that with the rest of security as soon as possible"

It turned out that Quark was the reason the explosives got past security, and security was actually lucky they figured it out in the first place, but they did and it turned out they were the only ones who currently knew and as such also knew that they needed to handle things delicately because there were times that Quark was not aware of being the reason behind something, it was rare and in between but it _did_ happen (and that was precisely the case this time as well, he had legally imported beverages and a new game table for the game of dabo and unfortunately an explosive was mixed into the order and undetected in the screening)


	5. Chapter 5

"So Constable, do you want to do the honors since your more familiar with him or should I?"

"I think it should be you Lt. Ferguson, after all he's getting used to me and my ways, besides according to your records you're still pretty new to security after having transferred from Engineering for personal reasons"

"Practice"

"Exactly, with competent backup if you need it"

"Thank you, so...where would our prime suspect be?"

"At his bar"

"Shall we then?"

"After you"

"Quick question what is possibly the best way to get his attention?"

"Shouting his name seems to work"

"Then that's what I'll do when I get there"

The two officers go in and the younger Lt. is the one who starts things off

"QUARK!"

Quark turns and senses that he's in trouble, though he legitimately doesn't know for what this time around

"Uh...hi Odo...um who's this nice officer?"

"The name's Lt. Ferguson, now then come with us we have to talk"

"Sure...just...just let me get someone behind the bar first"

Two hours later and Quark was insisting that he hadn't known about the explosives and a check of the cameras proved that he was telling the truth

"Alright Quark you're free to go, though I do have a question first, do you recognize the person who tampered with your cases when they got here?"

"I'm afraid not, there's been no customers that look like that that I can remember and I'm trying to do better about my illegal activities if only because I'm realizing better what you and the Major...or Colonel I guess has been trying to tell me on occasion, there might also have been a private discussion between me and Captain Sisko shortly after his return after hours"

"Fine, now go"

Once Quark had left the security office Odo and Lt. Ferguson looked at each other and then the Lt. is the first one to speak

"Now what?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but it looks like we have a solid and good lead for the explosives"

"And it's not your usual suspect either, I've read reports and know your history with him"

"Indeed, I guess we check where his supplies came in for the next set of clues and also pass around the picture to any and all of our informants and of course our commanding officers"

"Actually all security officers across the fleet should know just in case they managed to get off the station already and are already traveling to another location"

"Very well, you take care of that I'll update Sisko"

"I'll meet you in Ops then, this shouldn't take too long"

Five minutes later and Lt. Ferguson was also in Ops letting both Sisko and Odo know that the image had been sent across the fleet and that all that was left was a waiting game to see if anyone had seen the suspect after the explosives had nearly gone off

"I've sent off the picture, all that's left is the waiting that generally happens in situations like this"

"Hopefully though it won't take too long to get any sort of lead"

"Agreed, in the meantime I think I'll get back to the Promenade"

"Understood Odo...and Odo..."

Odo stops before leaving the office completely like he was starting to

"The _Enterprise_ is due back tomorrow, Captain Picard and I need to talk to you when they arrive about an idea that we have and as such I need you here at Ops until after the meeting"

"Understood sir"

"Well I won't keep you any longer then since like you said you're needed on the Promenade, though I do find it interesting that Quark isn't involved, at least not intentionally"

"_This_ time at least"

"In any case we all have work to do, don't forget Ops for tomorrow"

"Yes sir"

"Then dismissed Odo, you on the other hand Lt. Ferguson are needed here on Ops for a little bit longer"

"Understood sir"

Once Odo left Sisko got straight down to business

"How have things been going Lt. Ferguson with your career change?"

"Pretty good, Odo has been letting me take the occasional lead and even when he doesn't I still get plenty of experience in other ways with more experienced officers"

"That's good to hear"

"I actually led the questioning of Quark and the lead in to his being in the security office"

"Well in any case I want you in Ops because whenever Odo is here we discuss possible security issues regarding ships on occasion and with you going to primarily serve on a ship you need experience in such matters"

"Understood sir"

The next day Odo was in Ops waiting for the _Enterprise_ having dealt with a different kind of Quark trouble after getting back to the Promenade because while Quark wasn't involved in any illegal activity unfortunately people weren't happy regarding the Dabo game this time around and started a ruckus

"So I heard that there was a disturbance at Quark's last night"

"Not his fault, apparently there were people unhappy about how Dabo works and a fight broke out"

"Understood, the _Enterprise_ should be here soon and we'll go from after the discussion that we need to have because it involves you"

"I understand sir"

It turned out that the _Enterprise_ would be three hours late, but that was because they answered an emergency call on the way to DS9 along with other ships and with the amount of ships answering things were settled relatively quickly in that the colony that was in trouble was getting the help it needed and those that absolutely needed relocated for various reasons were properly transferred to the ships going to their new destinations and the _Enterprise_ just happened to get two Bajorans who were actually only at the colony for trading reasons. Those two assured the colony that they would return once things were resettled but in the meantime they knew that they needed to go home

"Captain Picard welcome aboard DS9"

"Thank you Captain Sisko, shall we then?"

"Yes, Odo..."

"Yes sir"

And so the three go into the office and that's when Odo finally discovers that Sisko and Picard were discussing rotating certain crew members between DS9 and the _Enterprise_ until the whole situation was resolved, they were also thinking that maybe Odo and Data would like to work together once more until the situation was resolved

"Have you asked Lt. Commander Data about that?"

"Not directly yet, but that was because we wanted to run this idea by you first considering how Captain Sisko has mentioned before that you're...protective of this station"

"Captain Picard I think you would be as protective as I am if you had been in charge of station security since the Occupation like I was"

"That...actually makes sense hearing it in those terms"

"If Lt. Commander Data and the security officer on the ship agrees than I will also agree to working with him again and rotating between the two stations, I can trust Worf to handle the station in my absence since while he's in command red as you call it I know that he used to be security for the _Enterprise_"

"Actually there's a different officer I have in mind for station security, but you trust them explicitly since you hand picked them during the war with your people"

"I thought she had been transferred"

"She had been, but she requested to be transferred back to DS9 recently and I accepted, she actually came back on the _Enterprise_ and is simply waiting to hear from me that she's welcome aboard once more"

"Understood, by the way were you going to do the transfer anyways?"

"In an indirect way, we want to rotate between the two stations still but we also want the two people who actually went through that whole incident together because of the fact that the _Enterprise_ is on the move frequently while DS9 is stationary"

"Different advantages"

"Exactly"

"Very well, like I said if Lt. Commander Data agrees than I agree to be on the _Enterprise_ part of the time and then we're both on the station part of the time, you two can discuss how long that time period will be by yourselves, I have to check on a certain Ferengi, make sure he's staying in line"

With that Odo leaves Ops and does his usual routine on the Promenade and does also take care of a few disturbances as well while in Ops Sisko and Picard were discussing service length eventually agreeing on every three terran months as the rotation if Data agreed with them as Odo had, the reason both Captains had decided _not_ to make it mandatory wasn't just because Odo wasn't technically part of Starfleet but because they also knew that there was the chance that one or the other, or possibly both would decide that to maximize the advantage that they had it was best if they were separated and working different angles of attack against the enemy

"Though I do wonder if Odo will be able to handle every three months considering how long he's been stationed here"

"I was going to go for every six months however...I don't think my crew could handle Data being away for so long, especially after recent events that both he and your Mr. Odo were involved in"

"Thus the every three months which translates to twice a year"

"Exactly"

"Well then I will discuss these plans with Data and go from there, once I have my answer I'll let you know and you can inform Odo yourself"

"How long will you be here in either case?"

"At least two days for proper maintenance check and minor repairs"

"Understood, you can borrow O'Brien if you'd like"

"That's not necessary but thanks for the offer"

As it turned out Data would have been called excited at hearing that Odo was willing to work with him again on the _Enterprise_ if he'd had emotions. And even though he couldn't express any emotions he did mention that he was looking forward to working with Odo again to stop the ultimate threat to the Federation

"Now then Data you do understand that this agreement means that you'll be transferring between DS9 and the _Enterprise_ on the schedule that Captain Sisko and I agree upon right?"

"Of course sir, as a Starfleet officer I am required to obey all orders given to me by my superiors, even though as you have said this assignment is an optional assignment I find that I...have missed working alongside Odo and I understand that he would be reluctant to be away from the station for long periods of time and as such you and Captain Sisko have devised the best schedule for both crews"

"Very well, I'll contact Sisko and we'll meet at Ops at a time he agrees upon before we leave"

"Understood sir"

The next day at noon Data and Odo were in Sisko's office waiting for their respective Captain's who were late to the meeting due to a medical issue involving members from both DS9 and the _Enterprise_ and they had been warned beforehand and so simply waited and while they _had_ kept in contact with one another since the separation they also decided to update each other on things not said over subspace, as a means of regaining a sort of cohesion though they also knew that they were out of sync with each other due to how long it had been and that only missions would bring them back into sync


	6. Chapter 6

"So, do you know how long we'll be on your ship Data?"

"I do not Odo, that will be up to our respective Captain's"

"Right, well hopefully the medical emergency is handled well enough soon so that we can find out how things will work out"

Five minutes later and Sisko and Picard are in the office and gives them an update on the medical emergency first

"Now then, the two of you will be trading posts every three months, which means twice a year you'll either be on the ship or the station, Constable for the ship I need to figure out what to do about quarters for you and Data, Sisko needs to know what your specific needs are for quarters here"

"Besides making sure that Spot is well cared for basic quarters that allow me to do my work there is all I will need"

"I'm fine living with Data on the ship all I will need is my bucket, as for whoever or whatever Spot is I'll deal with any issues that arise then"

"Spot is Data's cat and that will be an interesting arrangement, but if you specifically want to stay with Data then I can arrange for that to happen whenever you are on the _Enterprise_, though you are entitled to your own quarters Constable"

"We'll figure things out once I'm on board Captain Picard but for now like I said I'm perfectly fine with sharing Data's quarters"

"By the way, your reports never did mention how the two of you managed your regeneration cycle Odo"

"Um well you see, we, that is..."

"That sir is because of...Odo?"

"It's complicated Captain, and part of it is because my regeneration cycle had been affected by our accident"

"How badly Odo?"

"Instead of every sixteen hours I was regenerating every 24 hours or about that long anyways"

"The actual time was every 24 hours 15 minutes he would return to his gelatinous state, as for why he stayed that ways once uncloaked it was a combination of how the cloaking was undone and how we were cloaked in the first place"

"Plus with my regeneration cycle a mess once the cycle could be returned to normal I think I went into a kind of shock that Doctor Bashir didn't recognize"

"In either case your records need to be transferred to Doctor Crusher Constable, plus we want the two of you involved in the decision on where you're starting in regards to the transfer?"

"How so?"

"That's easy Data, you two will be involved in the decision on whether your three months start on DS9 or on the _Enterprise_, this is especially important considering that Constable Odo will be under our security officer which is not a position he'll be used to"

"Which I don't mind since they'll know the ship while I don't"

The next hour was spent discussing where the rotation would start with valid arguments for both DS9 and _Enterprise_ being given, but finally the _Enterprise_ won out and so when it left DS9 it would be leaving with Odo on board and his choice of successor being in charge of security on the station while he was gone, fortunately she was already warned about what was going on and as such it wasn't very short notice on how soon she would be taking up security duties

"Don't worry sir, the station will still be standing when you get back"

"And Quark?"

"I'll keep two eyes on him at all times, even if as you've reported he's improved a lot regarding his activities that doesn't mean he's completely clean, he's a Ferengi"

"You're learning, if need be I would suggest talking to Worf about supplementing your security"

"I will, I know his record and as such I know that he used to be the security chief on the _Enterprise_ before it was lost once"

"Okay then I'd best get ready to leave"

The next day and Odo was on board the _Enterprise_ and in sickbay because Doctor Crusher insisted on doing a medical check, and entering his medical records that Bashir had created during his time on board DS9 so far

"I understand that it's harder for you to be injured, actually according to notes it's practically impossible for you to wind up in sickbay for medical attention, but I want to see you on a regular basis to check in at the very least, and if _anything_ seems off you come to me immediately, especially if it seems like your body is acting like during what you yourself according to Bashir have called your solid days"

"I understand Doctor Crusher"

"I hope so, I'm not afraid of chasing you down if it's needed just as a warning"

"Understood"

"Now then, I'm done for now but I might have questions later all things considered so don't be too surprised if I call you later, have you been assigned quarters yet?"

"Yes, I'm staying with Lt. Commander Data"

"Okay then, oh...do you play poker?"

"Poker?"

"You'll see"

It turned out that his first night on the ship Odo got introduced to Poker, he ultimately decided that he may play occasionally but he also knew that he was uncomfortable with the socializing, fortunately the senior staff understood where he was coming from and would never push it. The next day before their shift began Beverly went to Data's quarters to explain things a little better to Odo regarding the Poker game he had attended the night before


	7. Chapter 7

"If you ever want to join this is a weekly event...or at least we try to do it every week, if you don't that's your prerogative..by the way Odo we need to figure out a schedule for you that works due to what your medical file mentions regarding how your body works"

"I have already worked out a possible schedule with Commander Riker and Captain Picard Doctor Crusher, the security chief and the Captain need to approve the schedule but everything has already been considered when assigning Constable Odo to shifts on the ship"

"Including not only your opposite schedules on occasion but also his authority on the ship as a security officer?"

"Yes, anything else we've missed will simply have to be discovered during my stay here Doctor Crusher"

"Fine then by the way how was your meeting with Spot yesterday?"

"Interesting to say the least"

"Indeed Spot was...curious about Constable Odo once he arrived at my quarters"

"Hopefully things will settle down soon, but Constable..."

"Please, call me Odo, most of DS9 does"

"Understood Odo you do understand that if need be you can request a change of quarters, get your own place"

"I know, but I'm willing to give this arrangement a try since I was the one to suggest it in the first place"

"In any case both of you have a shift to get to"

"Indeed we do"

"But first...Spot hasn't escaped again has she?"

"No, the veterinarian decided to keep her overnight yesterday after discovering some anomalous readings, due to the fact that they are still technically new to being a veterinarian I believe that they are being overly cautious"

"What are they doing on the ship anyways?"

"They said something about practice for a certain station I believe"

"Now then Lt. Commander Data and I need to get going, I only have just under sixteen hours before I regenerate"

"Understood Odo, see you guys later on the bridge"

"If I'm assigned there"

"More than likely you will be, for reasons that are for you to discover once on shift, but first you need to report to your superior"

"Understood"

It turned out that Odo _wasn't_ assigned to the bridge that day, but that was because of the fact that he was instead assigned to dignitary duty because the _Enterprise _was scheduled to head to Vulcan for a conference but before they got there they had to pick up dignitaries from various planets and they were almost at their first pickup location

"Now then your rotation is a bit different to account for your...unique circumstances, generally for situations like this I like people on for about 13 hours a shift, sometimes 14 depending on the circumstances, however with you I need to make your shifts about 12 hours"

"Why not just have everyone on 12 hour shifts for dignitary duties?"

"Safer for the ship this ways"

"Understood"

"Now then, your primary duty for today is meeting the delegate in the transporter room and escorting them to their quarters and then you stay outside their room at pretty much all times, if they leave their quarters for any reason you go with them"

"I understand, though I do wonder why an armed escort is needed at all times for these delegates?"

"There have been...threats against them recently"

"Understood, no one gets in without prior permission from the Captain or Commander then"

"Exactly"

"Very well then, when is the delegate scheduled to arrive?"

"Two hours from now, in the meantime I want you to read up on all the groups that we are transporting to Vulcan"

"Understood sir, which transporter room will I go to?"

"Transporter room 3"

"Transporter room 3, understood"

Two hours later and Odo was at transporter room 3 waiting for the delegate to be beamed aboard, there were minor issues regarding not only clearance but a storm so the delegate was a little late but no one was angry considering the circumstances

"Okay, the storm has finally cleared up enough for transport, waiting for their signal...and energizing"

A minute later and the delegates were on the _Enterprise_ and Riker was there as official welcome

"Welcome aboard the _Enterprise_, this is Constable Odo who will be taking you to your quarters, we have a few more stops on the way to Vulcan but they shouldn't take very long"

The next three days were interesting in the minds of all the security officers because of the fact that they were adapting to Odo's unique schedule with the delegation detail, but they had yet to see his shapeshifting ability so they were in for yet a bigger shock if they hadn't read his file and Odo knew it but he also knew that it couldn't be helped, he would only change shape at need and _never_ in such a confined shape if at all possible due to the fact that most of his forms could be way too big for the ship. Finally though they were at Vulcan and that's when they discovered that they weren't just transportation but also security for the conference

"Right, Data, Odo you're exempt except at need this time, this isn't because of your secondary mission that I'm aware of but because quite frankly Data you're the only one I trust to be in command of the ship while Riker and I are on the surface and Odo...your schedule doesn't really allow for you to be down there due to the fact that these talks are pretty random in regards to timing"

Both acknowledged their orders and then the person in charge of security made a bold move

"Sir, I nominate Odo to be in charge of security in my absence"

"Lt. is this based on his record from DS9?"

"Yes sir, he's been Chief of Security there for so long that I trust him with my ship while I'm away"

"I'll agree to that, however I also just now realized that I do need Odo down there at least today for reasons that will be explained once on the surface"

"Understood sir...but what could I be needed for?"

"All will be revealed in time Odo, I promise"

And so Odo is beamed down to Vulcan which he compares to Cardassia in regards to heat and then learns why he needed to be on the planet that first day, he needed to know who all were part of the delegation in case any of them needed to be on the ship at any given point in time and he wasn't exactly familiar with every delegation that was part of the conference, it was also so that he could experience plant and animal life on Vulcan as a disguise in the future at need not only at DS9 but also if he ever had cause to go to Vulcan once more in the future

"Now then I agree that you should be Chief of Security while we're in orbit around Vulcan but if needed I wanted to make sure that you knew who was allowed on board and who wasn't and also what lifeforms to take if you are needed on the surface of Vulcan and yet inconspicuous"

"Makes sense Captain, can I go back aboard the _Enterprise_ now?"

"Yes, make sure that you have a decent second in command for your...unique situation"

"Don't worry the main Chief of Security already has procedures already in place regarding scheduling and who has control when if they're not on board the ship"

"Good to know"

"Don't you have trust regarding your security officer?"

"Normally yes, however this situation is not exactly normal plus..."

"Plus the day before you came aboard I was still getting over an...attack on me that unfortunately affected my emotions and decision making abilities, he's just making sure that I truly am recovered by having you have a back up plan for any plans I have regarding schedule and who's in charge of the ship whenever you or I are not available"

"I see, well then I think that for now it's best that I..."

Odo suddenly changed shape into a Tarkalean Hawk and flew off towards an area of the building that was currently occupied by Andorians, Vulcans and Humans and with his claws grabbed a new (and as yet unnoticed) piece of pottery and then flew high, fast and as far as possible when suddenly there was an explosion and Picard and his Security Chief both knew that there was a high chance of Odo not escaping the explosion safely and that knowledge made them both cry out one word, his name

"ODO!"

Vulcan security had by that point gotten organized against a threat having seen Odo change into the Hawk and grab the pottery, when the explosion happened they immediately organized medical transport and had quickly also noticed where Picard and Crusher were respectively in the conference room

"Crusher..."

"I know Jean-Luc, I'll meet you at their medical facilities, he may...he may not be in shape to be transported to the _Enterprise_"

"I understand"

Three hours later Picard and the Security Chief were still waiting for word from Crusher about Odo, they had gotten the initial report that yes he had indeed been caught in the explosion and needed treated but after that nothing, they had no clue how bad off Odo was or if he was even still alive

"Hopefully Crusher's silence means that there's actually good news waiting for us"

"I hope so as well, however..."

Suddenly Crusher came out from behind the doors and was obviously exhausted but smiling

"He's going to be okay, he is still injured with obvious burns but they're not that serious I would say second degree at the most, and we don't know why because he deliberately regenerated once in medical to hopefully speed up the healing process, and we're still fighting to get the pain under complete control, but he's alive and under minimum medical support"

"What exactly do you mean by that Doctor Crusher?"

(Sighs) "He has an IV, which is an old Earth treatment to do various things, which is giving him nutrients and pain medication, and an oxygen mask because he's not getting quite enough oxygen, his lungs are fine we believe that they're just bruised and need a little extra help right now"

"That makes no sense Beverly he's..."

"According to him he's still completely a changeling but his people also told him when he visited them a few months ago for advice regarding keeping the peace between the Federation and the Dominion that there are lingering affects from his time as a humanoid, any serious injuries and his body might temporarily act like he's a solid again, it doesn't help that he's still relatively recently recovered from the cloaking incident"

"I see, is he safe to transport to the _Enterprise_?"

"Not yet, the injuries are just a bit too serious still we want him on the oxygen treatment until his saturation is normal without any assistance"

What Picard and the Security Chief didn't realize was that Crusher was lying slightly regarding Odo's condition, it was much worse than what she had told them, she had told the truth about the burns seriousness, but she had lied about Odo's temporary lungs and she also hadn't mentioned that he was actually in a coma that had been medically induced because Odo was actually intubated, and even _that_ had nearly been a true coma, and she also hadn't mentioned the various broken bones either. The truth of the matter was that until Odo's body acted like a true changeling again Odo was in critical condition and at risk of dying

"Keep us updated"

"I will, in the meantime, Laura you need your second choice for command when you're not on the ship to take over"

"I'll let them know now"

As soon as Beverly knew that the ship was taken care of she went back to where Odo was staying, she could tell that he was still in need of regeneration and that he could still go either way but she wasn't sure if it was safe to force another regeneration and as such she decided to go for the only other method she had left considering his coma

"Okay Odo, you listen up and you listen up good, there are people waiting for you to get well again and quite frankly I don't like seeing you in this condition either, even though we've barely even met in all reality, you're part of my crew and _that_ means you're under _my_ protection as a doctor. I don't necessarily understand everything about you but I don't have to regarding your physiology, all I need to understand is if you have an extremely stubborn will to live and I'm going to give you two really good reasons to fight back, two different families, your DS9 family that you've known for so long and this new family on the _Enterprise_, even if there's only one member who you know so well, so fight"

She leaves knowing that she needed rest, and keeps the same routine over the next two days, where she gives Odo a reason to fight but otherwise does what she could to help his healing when that third night two hours after she went to bed she was alerted to a change in Odo's condition and as such she practically runs to Odo's room to see the alarms going crazy and Odo himself going through a weird regeneration form where he was half liquid, half solid, and all pain and there was nothing she could do until he stabilized in regards to his form, she had actually been forced to tell her fellow doctors to do nothing more then once during the half hour they were witness to what was happening, but finally Odo was completely solid again and it was quickly obvious that he no longer needed the breathing tube at the very least and he was also awake

"Hey there, how do you feel?"

"Better than before you put me into the coma, but...I still hurt in my legs and left arm"

"We'll do scans to see what's still wrong, but I think you're definitely past the crises point"

"I tend to agree, did you tell Captain Picard the whole truth or not?"

"Not, he didn't need to know that we could lose you until it came to that point"

"He'll find out once he finally sees your report"

"True, but for now he doesn't need to know, now then besides your obvious pain I need to know how bad the pain was when you were in that weird regeneration form"

"It was as bad as the cure for the disease that was killing my people"

"I see, we may be able to do something for that in the future but I don't know for now"

"It's alright Doctor Crusher, now then what do the scans say?"

"You are still partially solid in that the bones in the areas that hurt are still broken and you right leg still has some burns which need taken care of, but otherwise you're doing good"

It would take another two days but finally Odo was cleared to be beamed back to the _Enterprise_ and that's when Picard learns just how close they came to losing Odo, when Data found out at the same time he locked himself and Odo in their shared quarters for five hours which were spent talking about what they would do regarding their secondary mission should one or both of them actually be lost for real in the future and the mission had yet to be completed

"So then we are agreed on how things will proceed in the future?"

"Yes Data, we're agreed, the messages won't be sent until our confirmed death certificates are sent out"

"Very well, now then I believe it is time for your shift to begin as well as mine"

"Agreed, I also think my regeneration period is off again"

"Doctor Crusher might know how to help you regain your schedule quicker"

"I'll give it a few days first to give my body a chance to return to normal on it's own"

It would turn out that Odo's suggestion was for the best because his regeneration cycle returned normal mid-shift on the third day and it was only fortunate he was on the bridge when he suddenly reverted to his gelatinous state without _any_ warning like he normally would

"Captain...Odo's regenerating"

"Understood Lt., do you have anything...dignified to have him put in until he's back in the quarters he shares with Data?"

"Not really sir"

"Someone go to Data's quarters and get his bucket then, and once that's taken care of we'll have something on the bridge at all times if something like this should happen again"

"Understood sir"

Five minutes later and Odo was back in his bucket which was in the arms of an Ensign


	8. Chapter 8

"So...back to his shared quarters with Lt. Commander Data?"

"Yes, and Laura we need to go back to the original schedule with Odo"

"Of course sir"

"Can you have someone else finish his shift first though?"

"Don't worry Odo warned me that this could happen and we already have an off duty officer ready for the call"

"Good, why haven't you called them yet then?"

"I did sir, very discreetly, however I also gave them orders to do an Engineering check first for obvious reasons"

"Got it"

Everyone knew that what wasn't being said was that Data was currently in Engineering helping LaForge with a complicated task that was best suited for both of them to work together, and that Data needed to know about the change in schedule regarding his roommate. Two minutes later and Odo's replacement was at Odo's former post before he regenerated in the middle of the shift

"Have you briefed the correct people?"

"Yes sir, things are as normal as possible...how is he anyways?"

"Looks like he's simply going back to his normal schedule and needs rest"

"Understood, emergency preparation from now on?"

"Indeed, but that will be for later"

"Let's hope this doesn't set off a pattern for however long Odo's on board"

"It shouldn't, but missions might change that, we just don't know yet"

"Understood, hopefully though nothing major happens"

"Agreed"

"In the meantime we have a known schedule with Odo and we're going to do our best to keep it, Laura is Odo going to be in charge whenever you're off ship every time?"

"No sir, he's agreed to rotate with my second in command if he's on the ship, if not usual chain of command goes into place"

"Understood"

"So...where next?"

"Not sure actually, we have no direct orders from Starfleet plus the conference actually isn't officially over for another two days"

"Right, forgot about that considering that there's been one issue after another since we got here"

Ultimately the rest of the conference was peaceful and surprisingly enough the rest of the three months that Odo was aboard the _Enterprise_ for the first time ever was relatively calm in regards to missions, yes he did have to transform twice more during said missions and his gelatinous state saved his life at least twice when it came to solid objects, and his comrades life at least five different times (he forceably dragged those officers to safety via the feet being pulled out from under them) but that was more because they were dealing with riots on planets that were dealing with their own emergencies being pretty much over and the Federation aid was simply being given to bring stability sooner and some extra food than anything else. Finally though the three months were over and Data and Odo were heading back to DS9

"So...do you know if Captain Sisko has figured out arrangements for Data?"

"Yes Captain Picard, Sisko has already made different arrangements for Data than what I had with this ship, primarily because it would be...unwise to have the same arrangement on the station that we have here on the _Enterprise_ for complicated reasons"

"How unwise, and how complicated?"

"Part of the complication is in regards to how my quarters are arranged, the other aspects are...not classified per se but not easily discussed either"

"Understood, but how unwise would it be?"

"Extremely unwise considering everything that I haven't said being factored in and other non important but still necessary for station functioning also being factored in"

"That makes no sense Odo"

"I know sir...it's hard to explain to people that don't live on the station on a regular basis"

"Very well, we'll be reaching DS9 in five hours, Data is already getting ready for transfer, I suggest you do the same"

"Understood sir"

Five hours later and Data and Odo are welcomed aboard DS9 by the senior staff

"Welcome back Odo, Lt. Commander Data welcome back aboard DS9 as well, quarters have already been arranged and both of you are going to go through a physical before reporting for duty tomorrow"

"This is going to happen every time isn't it?"

"Yes Odo it is, it's an unfortunate necessity but it's a necessity required by Starfleet regulations"

"Indeed, by the way Data and I have an update for you regarding...certain aspects regarding the _Enterprise_ that Captain Picard didn't trust subspace communication to and since we were already scheduled to transfer here he decided the two of us would be enough especially with Data have perfect memory"

"Understood, I'll see the two of you tomorrow in my office at 0900"

The next day and Odo and Data were in Sisko's office with their medical clearance but primarily to discuss their secondary mission as was discussed in code the day before

"So...Section 31"

"We've unfortunately made very little progress in regards to that mission Captain Sisko, they are _very_ adept at hiding and what little we've managed to do seems to be a situation of one step forward two steps back if I recall the human saying correctly"

"Understood, return to your duties Odo, you know the rules regarding Section 31 missions more than anyone else, I need to inform Lt. Commander Data exactly what his posting is on this station considering where he normally works on the _Enterprise_"

Ten minutes later and while Odo was dealing with Quark Data had been told that he would work alongside Kira Nerys helping her with her duties in regards to how the station ran, his other duties were that if needed he would help Odo with security issues at Odo's request and he was also to help smooth out a new procedure regarding transportation of certain goods that the Federation was only just starting to accept as legal trading goods but had the potential to be volatile under certain conditions

"Basically it's like you're still on the _Enterprise_ just with a few differences"

"Understood sir"

"Now then in regards to your secondary mission I know that you and Odo want to handle this by yourselves as much as possible but on the station Doctor Bashir might be a good ally considering his dealings with Section 31 in the past, it's up to the two of you to decide if that's what you want or not but I am giving you that option"

"I will discuss this with Odo first, what about Colonel Kira?"

"She already knows about and has agreed to this arrangement"

"Where do I start then sir?"

"Go to Kira and the two of you will go from there together...oh by the way how much do you know about Cardassian Voles?"

"Not much sir why?"

"Because we have another infestation of them and we might need to do an elimination sweep if they get any where's vital"

"I will read up on them then"

"Good idea"

Data then went to where Kira Nerys was and started his shift

"Okay, I think that until you get more used to the station you should handle Starfleet docking requests and also any Starfleet departure requests, and depending on what's going on you can handle a few of the Klingon requests depending on what ship it is"

"Understood"

"Don't worry, you'll be completely up to speed in no time from what I know from my sources, and in all honesty that means you'll give me more time to deal with issues on Bajor that only a fellow Bajoran can deal with"

"Understood"

Ultimately within a week the entire station was learning just how useful having Data was, because while he did take downtime like other officers and was on a set schedule they also learned that he occasionally worked overtime and that overtime was for the benefit of station security in small but important ways, though initially the core group wasn't too happy


	9. Chapter 9

"DATA!"

"Sorry Chief O'Brien but I noticed that the computers efficiency was down and as such I decided to rectify the problem"

"You messed with the program called pup, you have no _idea_ what's potentially been unleashed now"

"Chief..."

"I'll get it off the furniture once I find it again Captain, not my fault, or yours alone, both of us forgot to warn him about that program and the Commander has been known to do things like this before, let me see the damage and go from there...I hope that the voles haven't gotten to the wires because that would be a disaster"

"Right, Chief you're debriefing him once that's done"

"Yes sir I'll be...sir I don't have to do anything"

"What do you mean Chief"

"Just that sir, the program is still contained but...Commander Data what did you do?"

"I noticed the program called pup and reasoned it was there for a reason. As such I increased the security around said program while deleting unnecessary functions to increase the efficiency of the computer, though I admit to some difficulty going around the Cardassian programming that gives you trouble on occasion as far as I could see"

"Thanks for that Data, now then I think you should just let O'Brien deal with the computer from now on while you handle your other duties"

"Yes sir"

Two months into the assignment Odo and Data had made yet another step towards dismantling Section 31 with the help of Bashir whom they had decided to bring in thanks to his connection to that group when they would be dealt a setback once more. Data and Bashir were in the infirmary discussing recent repairs done to Data after an altercation with two voles and some wires when there was suddenly an explosion and it was quickly discovered to be from Odo's office

"Bashir to Ops security team needed at Odo's!"

Bashir gathered a medical team that included Data since Data _was_ now qualified as a field medic (he had obtained that qualification shortly before his and Odo's assumed death after a nasty mission shortly after the Dominion War had ended and there were no qualified medics available to give treatment) and once the fire suppression system was done they went inside and learned just how much damage had been done

"Scan for Odo, be warned that he may be severely injured and in his gelatinous state and as such we'll need to tread carefully, if he's not in his gelatinous state he may have severe burns which require their own set of precautions"

Fifteen minutes later and Bashir and Data were in the infirmary and not looking forward to what they had to report to Ops because they had been forced to conclude that Odo had died in the explosion, and that it had been so fast he hadn't been forced into temporary solid form because they had found very little of his gelatinous state amongst the debris, but it was enough to identify it as Odo, or at least what was left of Odo

(Sighs) "I guess there's no use delaying this any further"

"No Doctor Bashir, there is not"

"Right, Bashir to Ops"

"Ops here, how's Odo?"

"Dead"

"What?"

"Odo is dead, he was killed in the explosion in his office"

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be considering the evidence"

"What exactly is the evidence Bashir?"

"We found just enough of Odo's pieces when he was in a gelatinous state to identify it as him Captain, there...there really wasn't much left, we're lucky we got that much as it is"

(Sighs) "I see, thank you Doctor, I'll let you know when the memorial is, for now Lt. Commander Data is to continue his job on the station however I am transferring you to security until further notice"

"Understood sir...sir what will happen after the next rotation on the _Enterprise_?"

"We keep up the rotation schedule, Bashir will take Odo's place in your secondary mission"

"Understood sir"

The rest of Data's stay was him working in security, though not as it's chief and trying to find out who managed to not only get an explosive onto the station but also into Odo's office considering all the security measures Odo had put into place over the years during the Dominion War and _especially_ after his return from the supposed dead, even if he hadn't been back for very long at the time. The memorial service that had been held two days after his death had been a mixture of Starfleet protocol, Bajoran beliefs and Odo's own request that they be blended along with what was left burned into ashes and stuck into a bucket, and they were simply waiting for a Dominion delegation (properly escorted by a Starfleet vessel) to give his remains back to his people who had indicated that they were willing, but needed time to get things properly arranged between their Starfleet escort and their J'em Hadar guards, no Vorta this time around but only because of the fact that it was by their insistence, finally though two days before Data was scheduled to return to the _Enterprise_ they came and docked to claim Odo's remains and Data was selected as the one to greet them at the place they had docked

"My name is Lt. Commander Data, I shall escort you to the infirmary where Doctor Bashir has been taking care of Odo's remains"

"How did he die?"

"In an explosion, there was not much left of his body, fortunately there was enough to identify the remains as him and once that was done we did as requested and cremated him, according to Doctor Bashir if not for the suddenness of the explosion he would have turned to ash naturally"

"Indeed, shall we?"

They head to the infirmary where Bashir was waiting with Odo's bucket

"Here's Odo's remains"

"Thank you, the Lt. Commander here already told us how he died, what I want to know is if it was painful"

"If it was it would have been very brief from what I could tell from my readings, as such I like to believe he wasn't in any pain when he died"

"Thank you"

"You should know...we're still investigating the cause of the explosion and while we may not be able to make it the highest priority at all times we won't stop until we find out who killed him and why"

"Thank you Doctor, for more than just giving us this reassurance, according to Odo you were the one who managed to get the cure to our disease, though he hasn't explained how"

"That is I'm afraid a secret that you can't know for your own good, as for this reassurance regarding Odo's death Captain Sisko would have given it to you himself if not for the fact that he's on a return journey from Earth after an...incident regarding Command, as for Colonel Kira she's a bit too busy to meet with you herself"

"We understand, we'll go now since we know that things are still tense between our people"

"Thank you for understanding"

The group left and then two days later Data left to return to the _Enterprise_ who had already heard about what had happened to Odo, only Captain Picard so far knew that the rotation schedule would continue as planned but he was unsure of how Data would deal with his secondary mission solo on the ship (Sisko had told him of the fact that Bashir was also involved because of his personal connection to Section 31)

"Data...you should know that I'm going to be forced to make changes to your secondary mission with the loss of Odo, you're to tell me before you explore any leads unlike before, you're also going to need more secure communication in your quarters so that you and Bashir can continue the mission as undisturbed as possible...no Data Sisko and I are both going to be firm about the communication issue, Bashir already has his quarters, the infirmary, and Ops upgraded in security to try and keep Section 31 out, you're to contact him immediately after your communication is secure and get those same upgrades to your quarters at the very least. Finally while I know your PADDS are as secure as possible I want no trace of your search into Section 31 on the ships systems, and if possible I want you to wipe the PADDS and commit all of your research to memory from now on, that's the only thing I can think of to try and keep this ship safe"

"Understood sir"

The next three years established a pattern with both DS9 and the _Enterprise_, every three months Data would work on one of his posts with the occasional disappearing act that lasted no more than three days at a time with the knowledge of Picard and Sisko per his orders to not leave to follow leads without informing anyone, at DS9 he and Bashir were in Bashir's office constantly but the one step forward two steps back pattern that had been established from the start continued in regards to taking down Section 31. Both groups also knew that Data had taken the loss of Odo hard and had yet to truly recover and was in fact still mourning his death, because even if he said he didn't have emotions he did they were just _way_ more subtle with the emotion chip that he had installed two and a half years after Odo's death off. In partial activation he was still pretty much emotionless but he did admit to some emotion, he had yet to fully activate it stating that until he was ready to deal with the emotions that he would feel once activated in full he wouldn't put anyone at risk, however at the same time though he did have the chip on limited emotional activation for part of the day so that it wasn't such a shock to his system once the chip _was_ fully activated. At the moment he was on DS9 working security because the security chief had been injured while dealing with another infestation of Voles, which Cardassia had been trying to help with as well but unfortunately they had made very little progress in figuring out where the Voles were even coming from


	10. Chapter 10

"I. Hate. Voles"

"They do appear to have become a major nuisance to this station, more so than when I first arrived here and heard about them"

(Sighs) "yeah they've gotten worse since you first arrived, you're lucky you missed a bad period a year ago, it took us almost the entire three months to deal with the infestation, that's when it was decided that Cardassia would be allowed full access to the station during infestations to hopefully eradicate the problem permanently, as you already know no such luck yet"

"I assume that there is hope though that there will be resolution to the problem with the help of the Cardassians?"

"Yes, we're hoping like crazy that eventually they'll be eradicated but for now having Cardassians that know their habits is a big help"

"Indeed"

"We're also lucky that we're on such good terms with them considering everything, one Cardassian actually saved the chief from worse injuries than what she already has"

"According to Doctor Bashir she should be back on duty tomorrow"

"Yeah, it's not that we don't enjoy having you here it's just...the chief is more stability than you are, the only reason the arrangement would have worked well with Odo is that he was our security chief for many, many years before this whole arrangement came up"

"I understand and agree that you need stability and trust to work effectively"

"Indeed"

Fortunately the next day the security chief was back on duty and Data was in Ops. Meanwhile in a completely different section of space the _USS Horatio_ was doing planetary surveys for a potential colony when they detected a life sign, it was faint and as such suggested that the person was either dying or was in a location that obscured life signs

"Right, Commander select an away team and get down there to figure out what's going on, once you give me an update I'll give a report to Starfleet Command so that they can decide if we're continuing our mission or if they need to send someone else to complete what we've started"

"Yes sir"

The team is selected and beams down to the planet where they find that the signature was slightly stronger as they got closer to a rock formation that proved to be a cave system

"Lindsey to _Horatio_"

"This is the _Horatio_ go ahead"

"It looks like a cave was masking the life sign, we're going to go ahead an proceed with caution, however be advised that there might be loss of communication until we're back on the surface"

"Understood, be careful"

"Will do"

They enter the cave and five feet into the system they see a sight they would never forget, force almost all of the officers to be sick, and amazed them that the person was still alive because they looked like they had half healed burns all over their body, though they weren't sure about that since their recorders were simply registering life signs and not configured to scan the injuries and they didn't dare, instead when they noticed that the person had seen them the Commander followed standard protocol

"I'm Commander Lindsey of the _USS Horatio_ of the United Federation of Planets, can you move?"

They barely heard the response but what was said would shock them once more

"_Horatio_?...Starfleet...are you...Starfleet?"

"Yes, we're here for planetary survey but when we found your life sign..."

"I...see...need help...hurts to move...what's...Stardate?"

The Stardate is given and there's obvious shock in the person's eyes

"Hang on, we'll see if we can't get in contact with our ship. Lindsey to _Horatio_ come in..."

It's quickly obvious that they had no means of communication in the caves and so the crew helps the mysterious person out of the cave and then makes contact once more

"Lindsey to _Horatio_"

"_Horatio_ here, go ahead"

"Two to beam directly to sickbay"

"Stand by"

Soon the Commander and the mysterious person was in sickbay and as soon as that happens the person finally passes out and then shocks everyone by turning into a gelatinous state

"Someone get me a container!"

The mysterious person in a different form was soon put into a container where all sorts of tests were done. Two hours later on the bridge

"Sickbay to Bridge"

"Bridge here go ahead"

"Captain I need you down here immediately"

"I'm on my way"

Five minutes later and the Captain was in sickbay

"Alright Doctor, what's going on?"

"What do you know about the mission?"

"Just that my First Officer came back with a medical emergency and the rest of the away team beamed up soon after, other than that I don't know because he said it was up to you to fill me in when you could"

"I see...follow me please"

And so they go to a biobed that had a bucket on it

"What's this about Doctor?"

"That's Odo in there sir"

"Odo?...it can't be, he was declared dead three years ago"

"I know sir but it's him"

"Are you absolutely positive? I mean that as you having conferred with Doctor Bashir or Doctor Crusher regarding your suspicions"

"No sir...but that's because quite frankly I wasn't sure what to do with this information initially, even though I _saw_ him turn into his gelatinous state before my very eyes"

(Sighs) "OK, until we get confirmation from our guest here about their identity this goes no further, once our guest does or does not confirm our suspicions we'll make discreet inquiries to either Doctors Bashir or Crusher asking them to keep it a secret until they themselves not only confirm our suspicions but we also talk to Starfleet Command about all of this"

"Understood sir, I already told my people and Commander Lindsey not to say anything until they get further instructions from you because I understand just how big this could be, after all..."

"Exactly"

"Since I don't know when he'll become solid again do you want to stay?"

"Yes, but not until I get someone to cover the rest of my shift on the Bridge, plus as you know being the Captain means..."

"I know, but I think he might find it comforting to have you here when you wake up...if it is who we suspect it is anyways"

"Good point"

Six hours later the Captain was waking up from a nap when he noticed a change regarding the bucket

"Doctor!"

The doctor comes over just as the mysterious person takes solid shape once more, they still looked like they could use medical attention but they also looked better than their initial arrival and once solid and actually looking at him (the look was initially one of suspicion and disbelief, as if the person didn't think it was actually real) the Captain speaks up

"I'm Captain Ferguson of the _USS_ _Horatio_, welcome aboard, now then who are you?"

"First I need to know if it's the Stardate that I think I heard on the surface, or close to it at the very least"

"What's the Stardate that you heard last?"

The person says the Stardate that he last heard and then the Captain gives him the Stardate for the next day

"Then it's true, it's been three years, Captain Ferguson I'm Constable Odo of either DS9 or the _Enterprise_ depending on the rotation that I would be on if what had happened in my office hadn't happened. I assume that I have been considered dead for the last three years due to an explosion and just enough of my body left behind to be declared my remains"

"We're going to have to have undeniable proof that it's you, which means either Doctor Bashir or Doctor Crusher needs to confirm that it's you, however I don't exactly know if I want to advertise the possibility of it being you all over subspace before it's actually confirmed"

"Maybe you can see where the _Enterprise_ is and schedule a rendezvous and then request Doctor Crusher to come aboard on her own"

"That would be best since Doctor Bashir is stationary and far enough away that I would have to confine you to empty quarters and a site to site transport to keep your presence a secret until your identity is confirmed"

"That could be the same for the _Enterprise_ as well"

"We'll know once I call the _Enterprise_, in the meantime we have a secluded area in sickbay that will keep you from being seen until we can decide our next step in confirming who you are"

"Understood sir"

As it turned out the _Enterprise_ was only a day away at warp 4 and not on any urgent mission currently and as such a rendezvous could be arranged, though Picard was a little confused as to why Captain Ferguson needed his Chief Medical Officer when he had a good one of his own, but Ferguson simply said that the matter was temporarily classified by himself and his Chief Medical Officer for unique security reasons, and when they did arrive they arrived just as Odo's "sleep" period had ended


	11. Chapter 11

"Welcome aboard the _Horatio_ Doctor Crusher"

"Thank you but both Captain Picard and I are confused as to why I'm needed"

"If you'll follow me you'll find out shortly"

They go to sickbay and Beverly is then lead further into the secure area where she sees Odo for the first time in over three years. She immediately brings out her own equipment and does her own checks, but once that was done she puts her equipment down and hugs him

"We heard that you were dead...how is this possible?"

"I'm afraid that both of you are unable to hear the reasons why, not even Captain Ferguson is allowed to know as far as I'm aware"

"I understand, for now though I think it best to get you back to the _Enterprise_, Data's still on DS9 but his rotation is due to end soon"

"I think we should go to the Bridge of this vessel first and inform Captain Picard of my status, Captain Ferguson can deal with informing Starfleet Command"

"Oh man...we have to deal with a lot of paperwork to get you declared alive once more"

"I'd prefer to do that on the _Enterprise_ if at all possible"

"Of course Odo, of course, but for now like you said we should inform the _Enterprise_ from the _Horatio _ so that we don't shock anyone too severely...though I have no clue how we're going to handle Data"

"We'll figure that out later then, for now I believe I'm allowed to leave with you confirming it's me"

"Yes you are Odo, but you have to be escorted by both Doctor Crusher and I until the official announcement is made, and that has to be by you and the Captain and I guess that means that announcement will be on the Bridge"

"Understood"

The three head to the nearest turbolift and then the CMO of the _Horatio_ speaks

"Bridge"

A minute later and the group is on the bridge, where the Captain and Commander turn when they hear the turbolift doors open

"Ah, Doctor Crusher, Doctor Pallard, sir I assume you have a reason for coming onto the bridge?"

"Yes sir, contact the _Enterprise_ please"

"Of course"

The _Enterprise_ is immediately contacted and the ship also immediately answers the hail, Odo does his best to keep out of sight for the moment knowing that it was for the best

"Yes Captain Ferguson, what is it"

"Your CMO is here on the bridge with important information for you"

"Yes Doctor Crusher what is it?"

"Captain Picard the _Horatio _had a very good reason to call us, they have in fact picked up a missing crew member of ours and wanted to return them as soon as possible"

"But we have no missing crewman Doctor Crusher, you know that, we haven't had one missing since well...I believe you know what I'm talking about"

"That turns out not to be the case Captain, the only thing left I have to say is that your eyes aren't playing tricks on you sir"

"Doctor Crusher what..."

Picard stops talking mid sentence because the person off screen that she had nodded to had come into view and he and the entire bridge crew was shocked into silence, pure and complete silence at what they were seeing

"Hello Captain, I would like to request permission to come aboard and serve under you once more after a long time away from my duties"

"Odo...but how?"

"I'm afraid you all thought I was dead for three years for reasons that only you are cleared for Captain as far as I'm aware of"

"I see, do those unstated reasons have anything to do with that explosion in your office three years ago?"

"Yes sir, I will explain more to you in private but for now I believe Starfleet Command, and more importantly DS9 and Lt. Commander Data need to know of my survival"

"Indeed they do, Picard to transporter room"

"Transporter room here go ahead sir"

"Lock on to Doctor Crusher's signal and two to beam directly to the Bridge"

"Aye sir, locked on"

Odo goes next to where Doctor Crusher was and Picard gives Odo a nod saying that he had permission to speak up to the Captain of the _Horatio_ before being beamed back to the _Enterprise_

"Thank you Captain for rescuing me, and for keeping my presence here a secret, and Doctor Pallard thank you for what treatment you were able to give me while I was in your sickbay"

"Of course Odo, we're glad that you're alive, Captain Picard can I have the honor of telling Command while you tell DS9 yourself?"

"Of course Captain Ferguson, transporter room, energize"

And so a minute later Odo was on the _Enterprise_ for the first time in three years

"Welcome back Odo"

"It's good to be back sir, are you contacting DS9 now?"

"No, first I need to debrief you privately regarding your...apparent death three years ago"

"Understood sir"

And so the two go to Picard's ready room and Picard sits behind his desk since it was an official report Odo was going to be giving and Odo was standing at attention knowing that his usual method of giving a report wasn't going to cut it

"So...Section 31"

"Indeed Captain"

"Okay, tell me how they managed to make us think that you were dead and hide you where the _Horatio_ found you for three years...if you were there the entire time that is"

"I was as far as I'm aware of, as for what happened that day..."

And so for over an hour Odo explained how on the day his office had been bombed he had been beamed away right as the explosion went off, however Section 31 had managed to leave enough of him behind to be identified as him, he was then kept in his gelatinous state for the entire journey where he was then tortured for three years about his activity against them and how he had survived the initial attack alongside Data, but Odo never broke, they had also constantly tortured him by either keeping him in solid form and watching him flake into pieces, they burned him while in solid form or a combination of both. He had no sense of time but he estimated that they had finally left him to die no more than a month before the _Horatio_ found him, but they had kept the device that kept Odo in solid form on, though at a lower level than Garak had to prolong his torture one last time hoping he would die in solid form eventually

"Well, this will have to be kept secret until we can take down Section 31, in the meantime I have an officer who now has an emotion chip that hasn't been fully activated because of your death but it's still obvious that he's mourning your loss and has been for three years, Sisko and I deliberately try not to work him on the anniversary of your loss, the day you were discovered by Mora Pol to be sentient, and the day you two were returned to us after the initial belief of your loss, we also pull him off duty if it's obvious that your loss has affected his work too much. I actually had to put him on light duty for a month after his return to the ship because he suddenly crashed from an unknown being attacking the ship, which activated his dream program and he felt your loss keenly for that long, Sisko took him off duty for a solid week after your loss as well before Data became too insistent for him, though he made sure that Ezri Dax cleared Data for duty first by making that a mandatory condition of his return to work on even light duty"

"Sorry about that Captain"

"Not your fault, I blame Section 31 entirely, by the way you should know that the pattern of one step forward two steps back has continued, Data now stores everything regarding his research internally, the communication from your shared quarters on the _Enterprise_ is as secure as mine so that Data can continue coordinating with Doctor Bashir per your choice to bring him in and no solo searches without prior knowledge of either of us and even those searches tend to have a time limit"

The two leave his ready room and then Picard speaks up

"Hail Deep Space Nine, Odo, it's like the _Horatio_, you stay out of sight until I signal for you"

"Understood sir"

The hail is answered immediately and Data is seen in Ops

"Captain Sisko I know this is sudden but I needed to contact you regarding a time sensitive matter"

"Shall I take it in my office?"

"No, this concerns the entire command crew, Mr. Worf, hold Data"

"Captain I assure you that..."

"Sorry Data, but you need to be held for this, and where's Doctor Bashir by the way?"

"In surgery"

"Right, he'll have to find out later, Mr. Worf..."

Worf goes over and holds Data as ordered and then Picard nods to off screen and it turns out to be a good thing that Worf was holding Data because otherwise he would have gone down hard in shock at seeing Odo, the rest of Ops wasn't fairing much better, but they had been dealing with their emotions all their lives as well and as such were better off than Data who was basically unconscious in Worf's arms having his chip currently activated

"Aaaannnnd...we've just temporarily lost Data to emotional shock, Odo, how are you alive?"

"Captain Picard will transmit that information securely Captain Sisko, needless to say that my survival was due to...unique and classified circumstances"

"Right, that situation, understood, I'll let Doctor Bashir know personally about your survival and the circumstances surrounding it, in the meantime Picard you and I need to discuss changing the rotation schedule slightly even though the three months are almost over"

"I know, your office Sisko, this is not something to be discussed in open lines, meanwhile someone find a way to wake Data up, he might be needed"

Ultimately it was decided that it was best for everyone that the rotation schedule originally conceived and followed even after Odo's apparent death would be maintained, plus it gave the station three months to get used to the fact that their security chief was in fact alive for classified reasons without him being constantly looked twice at in disbelief. Besides that _Data_ needed the stability of routine especially with the shock of Odo alive, neither Captain knew it but every lead regarding Section 31 had a personal secondary mission in trying to find out if it had been them that had caused Odo's apparent death and if so Data wanted to find and bring home his remains, Odo being alive meant that he would slowly but surely completely activate his emotion chip, and that meant him being on the _Enterprise_ with the crew that knew him the best due to how long he had served aboard that ship and understood him the best, because the DS9 crew knew him pretty well after three years but only Worf and to a certain extent O'Brien knew him the best and even then O'Brien struggled at times understanding Data, as did Worf once the emotion chip came into play, but they were better off than the rest of DS9. After agreeing that Data would continue the rotation schedule Sisko left the office and Data was awake once more and working besides Kira once more


	12. Chapter 12

"Data, usual schedule for you, it will help the station as well in regards to the news that Odo is alive, but that announcement will have to wait for the official announcement from Starfleet so what happened here just now is not to be discussed with anyone outside this shift, I will tell Doctor Bashir personally once he's out of surgery because he _needs_ to know about Odo for complicated reasons"

"Yes sir"

An hour later and Bashir was in Sisko's office learning about the fact that Odo was actually alive

"Sir...what about his people?, they were told..."

"We'll tell them after the official announcement Doctor Bashir, though to be honest I don't know if we should lie to them about who abducted him and made us think he was dead or not because of the nature of Section 31"

"We'll figure something out, but for now it's good to know that Odo's alive"

"Indeed it is, now then I do believe you have patients you need to look after, tell Data I want him checked out just to make sure that the emotion chip isn't creating an instability after the shock of today, I would have sent him down earlier but unfortunately..."

"I know, I heard the alarms during surgery"

Bashir leaves the office and goes over to Data and taps his shoulder and then whispers in his ear, Data simply nods and whispers something in Kira's ear and then leaves with Bashir making the group wonder what the Doctor needed from Data this time considering their routine meetings at random intervals over the years. Once in the infirmary Bashir does a check on Data and clears him of any emotional instability with the chip being as active as it was

"The thing I don't understand is the whole thing that happened to Odo after all..."

"I have researched that very thing and it turns out that his office was not as secure as we believed"

"How did that get missed?"

"I do not know, I have yet to figure that part out, as it is the security issue was subtle enough that I almost missed it myself"

"I see...you're upgrading the security before you leave if at all possible aren't you?"

"Indeed I am Doctor Bashir"

"I'm helping then, I hate that group just as much if not more than you for what they've done to me in the past, plus I'm still angry at them for the virus they created that almost killed Odo and his people"

"Very well"

"What about both of your quarters?"

"Those are as secure as needed, as is the communication system, his office is the only place that is not as secure as it should be for reasons unknown"

"We'll be fixing that though, and I might try and do what Odo would do and investigate for myself why his office isn't as secure as it should be"

"Very well, Doctor I know that you are needed here on the station but I was wondering if you would like to see Odo before the _Enterprise_ leaves"

"I think everyone is going to want to see Odo in person before the _Enterprise _leaves so I don't think you need to arrange a private meeting for the two of us"

"Understood"

"Now then, before the _Enterprise_ gets here in two weeks we have that potential lead on Bajor to follow, and this time I'm accompanying you not as a fellow person out to take down Section 31 but as a doctor, there's apparently been some sort of plant discovered that could help with pain relief and burns that I need to look at for myself to make sure that Bajorans can indeed have that plant due to the fact that the plant isn't found on Bajor but another planet entirely"

"Understood, if I need you I will call you"

"Same here Data"

Four days later and both Bashir and Data were back on DS9, Data's lead had gone nowhere's while Bashir was still unsure about the plant being helpful for Bajoran's, but he had at least confirmed that no harm would come to them if they were exposed to the plant in an attempt to help them

"I am sorry that you are having trouble with the plant Doctor Bashir"

"Such is the medical field Lt. Commander"

"Understood"

"Data...there's something we need to talk about regarding Odo's return, something you need to know, in my quarters after shift tonight"

"Very well Doctor Bashir, if you are certain"

"Very certain Data"

"Understood, your shift ends before mine so you will be waiting"

"I know that Data, but I don't even trust my office on this one if only because of the risk of lip readers, some of my Bajoran staff have gotten _real_ good at that lately because of the necessity after I was locked in my office for _way_ too long during that incident"

"Ah, that is why we have not discussed the secondary mission in your office since that incident"

"Exactly"

"Understood, secrecy is of the upmost importance in that mission, is that why Odo needs to be discussed in your quarters?"

"No, however I don't know if Starfleet Command has revealed that he's alive, and I don't know when that will happen either"

"Understood"

Late that night Data enters Bashir's quarters and sees that Bashir was waiting for him

"Hello, Data, I just finished my meal and now we can talk about Odo"

"Indeed, what do you want to talk about?"

"That besides the fact that these past three years has potentially had an impact on Odo's mental well being there's also other things that Odo might be dealing with physically, we have no clue what Section 31 has done to him over the years and it could affect him physically in ways that's not obvious yet, there's also the fact that he has no idea what our research has revealed, and also the fact that you never found his location in all this time which means that they potentially have a location that they can keep secret and keep people against their ideals indefinitely"

"The _Horatio_ found Odo on a planet though with no life signs"

"You know as well as I do that most likely that means that Section 31 has abandoned that location, if not then they had a means that they figured that no one would want to try and live on that planet"

"Until people did"

"Exactly"

"I will be alert for any problems"

"Good"

The rest of the two weeks passed peacefully, the day after Bashir and Data met regarding Odo Starfleet Command revealed to the fleet about Odo's survival which meant that Sisko could announce that development to those most affected, knowing that Quark would find out in his own usual way. Once that news was out Bashir and Data could talk more openly about Odo where ever they were, and Odo's replacement also talked about him to both because while she was _not_ involved in the Section 31 mission she knew that Data was constantly with Odo and Bashir was the station doctor, as such she needed to have a general idea of what her boss _might_ be like in three months time from Bashir while with Data she warned him that if he hurt her boss she would figure out a way to hurt him because Odo _trusted_ Data in a way that he trusted no one else, not even Sisko, and Data knew that was because of their experience together being thought dead, and cloaked because of Section 31

"I will do my best not to cause him harm, I will also help Councilor Troi in helping heal from the damage done to Odo during the years he has been missing"

"Very well I'll accept that as good enough, but don't forget my promise if he's harmed by you"

"I will not"

"Good, now then I have a station to protect and you have packing to do, the _Enterprise_ arrives tomorrow according to the schedule I know of"

"I have already packed everything but what I need for the rest of today and tomorrow"

"Right, well I have..."

Suddenly an alarm goes off and since Data was at security he decides to see what the problem is and his android strength was going to prove to be handy because it was three Klingons, two Cardassians and an unknown for Data all in a fight and two security officers were already down as well with what would ultimately be broken limbs and concussions as well

"Well now, that was helpful, too bad you're gone tomorrow, but we'll manage incidents like these somehow"

The next day the _Enterprise _arrived an hour late but no one minded, the plan was for Odo and some of the other crew members of the _Enterprise_ to disembark for about two hours due to a supply transfer being done and then all but two crew members would go back onto the ship along with Data while the two that were staying on the station waited for ships back to Earth for their new postings there, one heading to the Academy for a teaching job and one doing security on a Starfleet facility on Earth that wasn't the Academy. What Odo wasn't expecting was his crew welcoming him back after so long but there they were

"Welcome back Odo, it's good to see you alive in person and not just a viewscreen"

"It's good to be alive sir, and it's also good to see everyone again, Data you're needed on board immediately by Lt. Commander LaForge for something in Engineering"

"Understood"

Odo gets a quick update from his replacement and then the rest of the time was simply spent talking to the crew about the rest of the station situation but finally it was time to return to the _Enterprise _for the next three months

"Odo, is it safe to assume that we will resume the same arrangement as before on the _Enterprise_?"

"Yes, we're sharing your quarters still"

"It is...good to know that we are still sharing quarters"

And so they go to Data's quarters once on board and told they had two days off to get used to each other again, besides Data needed to tell Odo of what he had gone through over the past three years while Odo needed to tell Data what _he'd_ been through for the past three years, plus Spot needed to get used to Odo again

"So...who goes first?"

"I will go first Odo since I am sure that you have already given Captain Picard and thus Captain Sisko your report of the last three years up until your rescue, I will have to thank those who rescued you in person at some point"

"Don't worry Data I thanked the crew of the _Horatio_ for myself at the time you don't have to do the same, besides they are unaware of our Section 31 mission"

"Understood"

"So...what happened to you while I was thought dead?"

"It was not easy for me, just as I assume it was not easy for you, here is what happened

_Year 1_

Data and Bashir were relentless in trying to figure out how an explosive managed to get into Odo's office, but they also had to deal with the memorial service and that wasn't easy on either of them, Data was actually pulled from duty for a week due to the fact that while he didn't have emotions he _had_ managed to overwork his systems and Sisko wasn't willing to put him back on duty until cleared by Ezri Dax. The day they gave the remains to Odo's people was hard as well and Data knew for a fact that Sisko had yet to inform Picard _or_ Starfleet Command about Odo's loss because he was hoping that he would have answers before then, but finally Sisko said that after Data informed Picard about Odo, he would inform Starfleet about Odo's loss but first Data had to get through the greeting with Odo's people

"Was his death painful?"

"Doctor Bashir does not believe so, according to all tests done Odo's death was quick and thus painless"

"That is good to hear"

They leave soon after and then two days later Data returned to the _Enterprise_, _alone_ but no one was aware that would be the case immediately, instead the _Enterprise_ docked as usual and Data came on board alone, but initially that wasn't suspicious, after all Odo would have to update his second in command of any on going investigations and officially hand command over to them, so Picard spoke about a sensitive topic unknowingly

"Welcome back Mr. Data, how much longer is it going to take Odo to debrief his second so that they're prepared for the time that he's away?"

"There is no debrief happening Captain"

"Then where's Odo?"

"Constable Odo is dead, killed in his office due to an explosion that is still unsolved"

"I see...in my office Data, now"

And so Data is informed of the changes in the investigation into Section 31 and the rest of the first year without Odo was pretty routine, every three months switching between DS9 and the _Enterprise_

_Year 2_

The same routine as the previous year continued but finally two and a half years after Odo's death Data finally decided to input the emotion chip while on DS9 shortly before he was due back on the _Enterprise_ in Bashir's office

"Data, are you okay?"

"I am...unsure Doctor Bashir, my memory files are integrating with my emotion chip I...I am finding that dealing with the loss of Tasha Yar and my daughter Lal is harder this time even though it has been several years since their loss, however due to the time passed it is not overwhelming me however I do not know what will happen once..."

There's a change in Data's posture but it passes briefly without Bashir being the wiser to the fact that Data had just relieved Odo's death all over again and that loss was still fresh. The next day Data was back on duty on the _Enterprise_ and everyone could tell that there was a difference and as such he revealed he had his emotion chip partially activated, he had found quickly that full activation was not wise at the moment, two days later everyone was attacked by an entity that had messed with their minds and thus their memories and once Data was awoken he made a screeching sound that disturbed everyone. When they finally _did_ manage to get him to talk he would only say one word over, and over and over again, Odo and with that it was obvious that Data was keenly feeling Odo's loss forcing Picard to put Data on light duty for a solid month once he was cleared by Crusher and Troi

"I'm sorry Data but it's for the best while you fully process your grief regarding Odo's loss, at least as much as you can with the chip only partially activated"

"I understand sir, am I to be stood down on the same days as last year?"

"Yes, it's for the best because you are not as efficient on those days as you would like to appear"

"Understood sir"

Data knew in a way that Picard and Sisko were right to stand him down on those days but he was also frustrated that he _had_ to be stood down due to emotional compromise on specific days, the rest of the year was routine though

_Year 3_

Data was in his quarters on DS9 and was getting ready to report for duty when he asked the Stardate and realized that Sisko would stand him down if he even tried

"Three years Odo, it has been three years since your death and I still find it hard to deal with at times, I also still do not know why you died though I have gotten closer to a possible answer with it being Section 31, but if that is the case why have I not found your body yet?"

Data would have spent the entire day pent up in his rooms but the rest of the main group of DS9 wouldn't let him and drug him out of his room and did things with him as their duties allowed, they also enlisted Garak into their efforts and Garak was more than happy to distract Data from his grief regarding Odo's loss, no one knowing what would be happening in mere months. The next day things were back to normal in the emotional sense, Data was actually in the infirmary helping Bashir get free from his office (his nurses were being forced to get _real_ good at lipreading due to the station wide power issues due to a virus that was due to Pakled sabotage) when he was called away because of a security issue. But once that was done the rest of the three months was going smoothly when near the end of the three months Odo would be found by the _Horatio_ and DS9 would be called by the _Enterprise_ revealing Odo's status as alive thus getting to the present

_Present_

"And that is basically what has happened to me over the past three years what about you?"

"Section 31 was the cause behind the explosion and my apparent death, the next three years was spent being tortured on the planet the _Horatio_ found me at, they abandoned me about a month before my rescue, Picard has my official report regarding everything that happened to me though"

"I see"

"I might get into more depth later but right now just going into depth for Captain Picard was hard enough"

"I understand, at least you are alive still"

"Indeed, now then after the break we have an organization to take down within the confines of our regular Starfleet mission"

"Indeed"

"So where are we starting?"

"Here"


	13. Chapter 13

_200 years in the future_

"The two would spend the next 85 years taking down Section 31, sometimes winning battles, other times losing battles, they in their journals called it one step forward two steps back. Their struggles were long and hard, and not without losses, either themselves being thought lost a few more times or them losing members of both crews to retirement, age, and at least once sabotage by Section 31 but they never gave up, there was even one time that the whole crew of the _Enterprise _was thought dead, though not because of Section 31, but that was determined after the fact...yes Cadet?"

"If they knew so much how come it took them so long to take down Section 31, and how do we know that the group truly no longer exists?"

"As to your first question the reason it took so long to take down in the first place is that they needed hard evidence and that took time to gather because there were times that they had the evidence they needed to finally take the group down only to lose part of the evidence due to Section 31, then there was the fact that it also took time to gather all the members of Section 31 for trial, as for knowing if Section 31 is still gone today that I can't be sure about but all of the leaders had been arrested, charged and imprisoned so it's very unlikely that they still exist

"What happened to them afterwords?"

"According to our records Odo died 100 years ago while Admiral Data died about 40 years ago, as for how they died Odo would die on Earth saving the President of the Federation from a group of terrorists who refused to acknowledge the change in the Dominion even after such a long term peace agreement with them and didn't want their admittance into the Federation, they were to sign the papers that day, due to that event the Dominion would delay entrance into the Federation for two years, one year spent mourning the loss of Odo and the next year simply spending time on Federation planets proving just how much they had changed over the years and that they were worthy to be part of the Federation. Admiral Data would die on a mission to bring peace to warring factions that would only negotiate with the highest authority of Starfleet and Admiral Data was chosen, the peace between the factions gained not just through Admiral Data bringing them together in a process but also through the two factions being forced to fight the Borg who had survived the loss of their Queen so many years before by the hands of the crew of _Voyager_ who had spent seven years getting home from the Delta Quadrant, a journey that should have rightfully taken over 70 years. Admiral Data refused to be assimilated and forced two officers to shoot him seven times, six times just to bring him and the Borg that had captured him down and the seventh was a direct shot into the Admirals head where his processing unit was stored"

"So there may be a chance that Section 31 has returned"

"It may have, but considering just how careful the Federation is regarding the possible return of Section 31 it isn't very likely"

"I see, could we have the story about the whole crew of the _Enterprise_ being thought dead?"

"Sure, it was four years after Odo's remarkable return and everyone _thought_ it would just be a routine mission mapping a new star cluster that had the potential to go supernova, as they were the nearest vessel they were the one's sent to observe the phenomenon and part of the mission was indeed to see if it _would_ go supernova. According to Captain Picard's logs what happened on the mission was..."

_Four year after Odo's return_

Odo and Data were both on the bridge, Odo covering for the Security chief due to a combination of a nasty cold, an unknown virus keeping her in isolation and a broken bone while Data was simply at his usual station on the bridge manning helm

"Mr. Data how much longer until we reach the designated area?"

"About two hours sir"

"Right, Odo we're going into an area that we haven't really been in before so I want you read to go to red alert on my order, also make sure that photon torpedoes and phasers are ready should they be needed"

"Yes sir"

The group drops out of warp two hours later and is immediately attacked by Romulans

"Odo, call for backup immediately!, helm evasive maneuvers!"

The _Enterprise _lasts for a good three hours but by the time the _USS London_, which was the closest vessel to the area arrived all that was left was the apparent debris of the _Enterprise_ and no sign of escape pods leaving either

"Johnson, contact Starfleet Command priority one, I'll take it in my ready room"

"Aye sir"

The Captain goes to his ready room and sees the Admiral available to talk to him on screen

"Admiral Janeway I have bad news to report"

"What is it?"

"The _Enterprise_...is lost with all hands, we weren't able to get here in time"

(Sighs) "I understand, what about the Romulans?"

"It appears that they've left already"

"Understood, get back here immediately for further debrief, and hopefully..."

"Hopefully be there in time for the memorial"

"Exactly"

"I'll get back to Earth at all possible speed"

"Understood Janeway out"

The Captain leaves the ready room and it's obvious that they're waiting for orders

"Helm, take us back to Earth maximum warp"

"Maximum warp aye sir"

And so the _London _leaves the place where they believe lives have been lost, meanwhile the _Enterprise_ had not been lost in battle, they had also not been sent to an alternate universe or the past instead they were in a very...unique position

"What happened Data?"

"It would appear sir that we are in what I can only call a time bubble"

"What does that mean?"

"Time is not moving for us, at the moment before we would have completely lost shields and thus been destroyed by the Romulans we were instead frozen in time, unlike when we were caught in a time loop this time it is just us"

"Okay, let's try and figure out a way to escape"

"Yes sir"

They didn't know it at the time but the _Enterprise_ would spend the next three and a half months doing what they could to escape from the time bubble, DS9 had gone into _deep_ mourning when they found out they had lost two officers at once, and they were just finally truly healing from the three year period they had believed Odo to be dead, Bashir was a little concerned about Section 31 but he also knew better than to take any sort of actions on his own until he could figure out a safe way of continuing their work solo. But finally the _Enterprise_ did manage to escape from their prison

"Okay, now Odo try and find a time beacon and get our systems back in sync, we also have to assume that someone else completed our mission so we're going to contact Command and see where they want us instead"

"Captain, it appears that we've been frozen in time for three and a half months"

"Three and a half months...that means..."

"That means that we're most likely considered dead Captain"

"Indeed number one, hm...this is a problem"

"Sir, what about Dominion war protocols?"

"Sorry Ensign Keeler but I'm afraid those protocols don't apply to us?"

"Because of the Romulans sir?"

"Exactly, there's a possibility that the ship sent to help us detected debris of the _Enterprise_"

"Oh"

"Exactly...Odo contact Command, in the meantime, get us back into Federation space"

"And if we come across another Federation vessel?"

"We surrender to them if so requested"

"Understood sir"

"First we need to fix our comms, coming out of that bubble did some serious damage"

"Understood LaForge

Three days into returning into Federation space the _Enterprise_, who was going basically at full impulse power was indeed stopped by a vessel, fortunately Geordi had managed to fix the comms just hours beforehand

"Sir, we've been given orders to surrender"

"Who's giving the order?"

"The _USS Sarek_"

"Tell them that we surrender, send our registration code as well if they haven't scanned for that"

"Yes sir"

As soon as the message was sent they were boarded by several officers

"Hello gentleman how can I help you?"

"You can start by no longer pretending to be a dead ship and it's crew"

"Well...we aren't faking our identities, I'm Captain Picard of the _USS Enterprise_ and everyone on the bridge is part of my crew"

"Lies..."

"Wait...we have a means of proving that it's them"

"Oh...him I almost forgot about that, Locksley to _Sarek_"

"_Sarek_ here go ahead"

"Could you send over the delegate? I think you might also want to send over Lt. Porka as well"

As soon as the two were beamed over it was obvious that one person was a Vulcan the other person wasn't so obvious but Deanna spoke up immediately

"Captain...he's a Betazoid"

"Well, this is surprising you're also Betazoid"

"Half Betazoid, I assume you have already read my thoughts?"

"No, just everyone's emotions, T'Pak is to be the thought reader"

T'Pak does a mind meld with Picard, though he _did_ get permission first and quickly withdrew from his mind

"It is indeed Captain Picard, and these are indeed the rest of the crew of the _Enterprise_"

"Get me Starfleet Command, Captain you have a lot of explaining to do"

"I know, but the quickest explanation is that we were trapped in a time bubble where time passed around us but we were stuck"

"You'll have to go deeper than that because all reports from the _USS London _was that you were destroyed in that fight against the Romulans"

"Yes, this is going to take some explaining indeed"

"A lot of paperwork too, Odo, Data you two are going to be dealing with a lot of emotional people again"

"Indeed"

And so eventually Picard managed to debrief Starfleet Commanding and all the paperwork to declare them alive dealt with, Command had also mentioned that they had yet to build another ship for the name _Enterprise_ but that was because they needed to rush construction on the new _Lexington_ due to not only _Enterprise_ being lost but because the Dominion had requested the ship as part of a special program and unfortunately the ship had been damaged beyond repair recently which had been explained to the Dominion, but they insisted that they would wait for the new _Lexington_ before going forward with the program. And once they returned to DS9 Odo and Data did indeed have emotional officers to deal with, unfortunately both also knew that being thought dead but not was always a risk until Section 31 went down but it was what it was, as for them being involved in the time bubble it turned out that they weren't the ones responsible, instead it was almost exactly like the aliens from before that had taken the shape of Romulans one time, the difference was it was a different group with similar needs plus Q played a part in saving the _Enterprise_ as well, he unfortunately just couldn't get them unstuck as he had wanted to due to the other members of the Continuum refusing his request to bring the _Enterprise_ home as planned because the _Enterprise_ had actually _needed_ to be caught in the time bubble as it saved them and the Federation due to an engine flaw that had been thought fixed but it turned out that over time the flaw returned and the crew of the _Enterprise_ needed time to fix the flaw permanently while at the same time getting free for future generations who might be trapped in a time bubble situation

_Present_

"After that day a new policy was put into place regarding presumed destroyed vessels and that policy is still in use today"

"You said that the two were thought dead a few times, was some of those periods deliberate?"

"That we're not sure of, what we do know is that was the only time they and the entire crew that they were serving with was presumed dead, eventually both Admiral Data and Constable Odo would transfer to a different ship but that was only after Section 31 was taken down because of the risks beforehand"

"Wow, they were amazing people then"

"Indeed they were, indeed they were"

What no one knew was that Data and Odo were in fact alive and well, that their apparent deaths were complete fiction, not because of the fact that them still being alive was impossible because everyone had come to accept that Odo's people and Data as an android could live for a very, very long time but because them being alive had been deemed dangerous at the time and so they were "killed" for their own safety, though Data had almost been killed for real during that Borg incident he hadn't been. The Federation as a whole also didn't know that Section 31 did exist once more, but it was run under Odo and Data and the group wasn't so secretive anymore, they also weren't known as Section 31 anymore, instead they were known as the United Federation Specialized Emergency Task force The members of the Task force were regular Starfleet officers most of the time, but all Captain's were aware that if a major planetary disaster, a terrorist threat on a planet, or potential Borg sighting happened then depending on where their ship was and the exact situation happening the Captain's would either temporarily lose members of their crew _or_ they would be the first ones on the scene but that a lower ranking officer would be in charge of the crew and that more people in the group was coming as backup, they just had to hold out if it was the Borg. No one knew that Data and Odo were in charge of the Task force, not even the members of said Task force, whenever they received their orders it was always either through text or their voices and features were disguised and they went by the code names Task force 1 and 2 while the rest of the group was known by either numbers, or if their mission wasn't quite so secretive their last names, but group to group conversation was done the same way and always with their numbers, this was a security measure put into place when the two were first approached with that idea shortly after they had taken down Section 31, not so much as a means of deliberately being secretive but as a means of making sure that the members would never be hunted down for their work by terrorist organizations that would want to take them, and also their ships if at all possible down. All members were handpicked by Odo and Data, including any potential future successors to their roles through observation of Cadets (very few Cadets were handpicked straight out of the Academy for the Task force but it had been known to happen a time or two) and service records, and if they passed the initial tests they were given special private testing to see if they would receive an invitation to the Task force which also meant getting specialized training, the specialized testing was always done in person by either Data or Odo, or sometimes both but they would always be disguised. If the officer passed the test, accepted the offer and successfully completed the extra training then when the officer either returned to their posting or was sent to new posting the only noticeable uniform change that signified their status as members of the Task force was a very subtle change to their commbadges (the changes were necessary for long distance communication with either a ship further out or to Task force 1 or 2) and their actual uniform would also have brown and gold stripping down the arms, the legs and their waist that was about an inch wide so that the stripes were visible but at the same time not so blatantly obvious that you could point them out as completely different. They were also observing the class due to that particular student that had asked about them and Section 31

"Well Data what do you think?"

"We shall see, they are still two years away from being close to graduating"

"You know I hate it when you go all formal on me, you've been able to use contractions for the past 150 years"

"It is...habit for me to speak like this"

"I know but still that has almost given you away a few times"

"I know, I'm still working on it but..."

"Like you said habit"

"Shall we get going?"

"Indeed, we have that candidate to test today in two hours and I was thinking of something new to use as a test after that recent incident on Bajor"

"Right I remember that incident, that's a good thing to test how about..."

The two continue walking and talking in the hallways knowing how to keep their conversation private while in public through code words worked out long ago. Two years later the Cadet they wanted for the group would be given the test but would not pass, the first time around, each candidate was given three chances if they accepted the offer and either five different offers or only two offers if after the second time the candidate stated that they didn't feel like they wanted to join the Task force because it didn't meet up with their goals for their careers. And so the group would continue for many generations, with Odo and Data eventually needing to let their chosen successors know that they were to now be known as Task force 1 and 2, also revealing the truth about who they really were before truly dying, and that tradition would continue throughout the history of the Task force which would last beyond the United Federation of Planets for over 80 years after the United Federation of Planets became the Galactic Alliance and the only reason the Task force ended 85 years after the formation of the Galactic Alliance was because all officers of the former Starfleet but now known as Galactic Guardians were trained to the level of the Task force, thus making the Task force obsolete, but their history was remembered and shared all over the Alliance, including the real identities of the founding members, the original Task force 1 and 2, a member of the species known as the Founders and an Android that was sentient and given all the rights and privileges of other Federation and eventually Galactic Alliance members that were born into either group


End file.
